Cowboys and Rancher Girls
by BlackSwanSong
Summary: A sharp tongued, short tempered rancher meets a cold, merciless cowboy. With the help of Sabrina, Julia, and a few tragic events of the past, will true love occur? Rated T for language and violence. Revised to chap. 13, and mini ep. will be coming soon
1. Chapter 1 Blind Date

BlackSwanSong (BSS): Ok! This is going to be rewritten! … Well more like, a bit more revised. You see, I kinda hate my story as it is now, and I've been hoping to make it better since my writing has improve a great deal from a couple months ago. I'm so sorry to those who're currently reading this as of now, because you guys might get stuck reading the whole thing again. I'm sooooo SORRY! By this, I'll make it up to you and hopefully update much more often! I'm also adding new features in my story, in which is a nice conversation with my characters.

Chelsea: Heh. Yeah right, a _nice_ conversation with us… You left me in an island that I'm suppose to hate! And why do you portray me into an irritable character that has a horrible past with devilish friends and everyone is practically out of character?

BSS: (sweat) Uhh… But it makes things more interesting! It's a bit cliché to have a regular Chelsea that's overly cheerful and a Sabrina that's always portrayed as a bad person! I just don't want to have anyone left out (!) And I think Sabrina as a loud cheerful person will shake things up in a funny way! ^x^;

Chelsea: I hate you! You enjoy the pain you inflict on your characters don't you?

BSS: … yeah… a little bit actually… and~ Before Chelsea tries to kill me, I hope you guys enjoy the story and none of the characters belong to me! Kay! Quick, get to the story!

* * *

Chapter 1: Blind Date

* * *

Chelsea's POV-

I absolutely can't believe that I was pulled into this mess. This dumb island was pointless! Spring was too wet, summer was too hot, fall had too much going on, and winter was too damn cold! I mean, I know I'm a mean person who will probably have no chance in having a husband, but this is just over doing it!

_~ Flashback ~_

_My eyebrow twitched involuntarily when I asked what my brother, Mark, had just told me. Mark closed his eyes in irritation for that I asked him to repeat, "I am asking you if you could take care of the farm that we had just inherited." Mark said this all slow like, in a way that sounds like I have hearing problems._

_I blinked with a blank look._

"…"

_Mark gave out a long sigh, "I'm guessing you are upset, huh? Look, now that father has passed away, we need someone to take care of the farm."_

"_There is no way am I going into a useless piece of land!" I exclaimed, now regaining the movement of my face._

"_Sorry sis, but I told them that you will go there. I'm truly sorry, but this is for your own good, I'm sure you will live a much better life there than here." Mark gave a sympathetic look. I was really angry that he decided this without me, but gave up this battle, knowing that he's probably doing this with purpose, and marched upstairs to pack up. _

_~End of Flashback~_

In the midst of my thoughts, I heard several knocking thumps coming from the other side of my door. My eyebrows twitched when the knocking was absolutely non-stop.

"I'm coming!" I yelled angrily. I ran to the door and flipped it open. "You only have to knock once! Not like I'm going anywhere, kay Taro?" I stopped when I finally opened my eyes from frustration. In front of me was a 6-foot tall man wearing cowboy attire. His hair color is striking silver, and his eyes resembled purple amethysts. Somehow I became more pissed, so much so, that I didn't care if he was "good looking".

"What do you want?" I practically yelled. The cowboy was taken aback from my outburst. Once I realized what I had just done, I murmured a small apology. The cowboy then regained his sharp look with a noticeable "Hmph."

"The name's Vaughn, the animal dealer." The cowboy kept his introduction short and to the point.

"Right, well my name's Chelsea, and as you can see, I'm the Rancher on this Island." I calmly answered.

All the cowboy did next was leave, leaving me by myself again in the winter snow.

_'He seems to be one who keeps to himself'_ Hater me stated. _'He's probably not worth the trouble to even say 'hi' to.'_

Yeah, I'm not very fond of men except for my brother, Mark. And to top off my hateful personality, I'm also quite touchy about my height. Just seeing someone a little bit taller than me gets me mad. My heights only 5'4, two inches shorter than my best friend, Sabrina.

Sabrina, who is the daughter of the great Regis, a man who owns a mining company, is a fragile looking girl, who is shy and conscious on how other people think of her. To me she's a truly kind person who cares for her friends, despite being shy and all, and so we became the best of friends. Now she is married. To whom you ask? Shea. Shea, of all people! Sabrina's explanation for the reason why she married this jungle man was that he was very different compared to anyone she's met, and seeing how he always seems to be cheerful, she wanted to get to know him a bit more. Now she is 21 years old, me being 20. Thanks to Shea, his overconfidence and cheery personality has now rubbed off on Sabrina, and then, she too, became a happier person who also speaks much, much louder now. Don't get me wrong though! It makes me grateful that Sabrina is more outgoing, but sometimes you just can't shut her up! (New right?)

A few knocks came to my door and ended my train of thoughts. Inside came in Sabrina. (speak of the devil! Or angle in her case… I think)

"G'morning Chels!" said an overly excited Sabrina. "Guess what? I hooked you up with another guy! He's almost like the male version of you! Just taller and hot looking!"

Oh, I almost forgot, ever since Sabrina got married, she tried to hook me up with a guy, saying that every girl needed her guy. I was blind dated with so many guys I don't know where to start! Once Sabrina put me up with Shea! "Just to see what reaction I will have to another girl's guy" was Sabrina's reason for her odd match-ups, boy, did that end in a major disaster! I swear this was happening way too many times! At first it was sweet and cute, but now it happens so much to the point where it's just plain annoying!

"And how did you get the guy to agree with this?" I asked, with my index finger, and my thumb between the bridge of my nose. (This is **will not **go well at ALL)

"I didn't." Sabrina cheerfully singed.

"Huh?" My eyebrows curled in suspision.

"I bribed Julia to trap the guy inside the animal shop." Sabrina nonchalantly answered.

…

"YOU WHAT?" I blurted out in surprise. "I said, I bribed Julia to trap your date inside the animal shop." Sabrina said in a sing-song voice. My mouth dropped a few inches, and after a few seconds I regained my posture. "O.K. then, may I ask who is my "date"?" I tried my best to keep my anger in check.

"Nope, no gonna happen!" Sabrina yelled with a devil-like smile. My face started to turn red in frustration; my usual sapphire eyes turning into pale blue fire.

"Now, now, it's that same short temper of yours that keeps you from getting a boyfriend." Sabrina scolded. "Now come on! We're going there now!" Sabrina yelled excitedly.

"Wait I need to get my coat! It's snowing outside!" I protested.

"No time! I'm sure Julia won't be able to hold him off for long!" Sabrina quickly answered. Before I knew it, I got dragged away by an overly joyful Sabrina to whatever poor soul who is trapped in the animal shop. But I think I'm the poor soul being signed off to the devil.

* * *

BSS: So is it better than the chapter I first made in this? Most of the content is still the same, but a ew details here and there, some better word choices, and presto, a 'better' chapter! ..I hope.

Chelsea: Nope. People probably think this is some bull that you changed the chapter.

BSS: Hey! I can't help it! I've come to hate this story quite a bit, so I wanted to change it sooooo bad! TT^TT

Sabrina: I don't think it so bad, I think you've improved a bit! ^^

(BSS Hugs Sabrina 'thanks')

BSS: Thank you so much!

Sabrina: No problem! I hope you guys stay tuned for the next chapter too! ^_^


	2. Chapter 2 Trapped plan part 1

BSS: Right! This is the next revised chapter, I hope its better! Plus, Vaughn's POV and Julia's POV will be introduced in this one too! ^^

Vaughn: Wait… Why do I have a sudden fear of you making me look stupid? Besides, why do I have to suffer? Having Julia involved in it is torture enough as it is.

Julia: Hey!

BSS: Yup! You are suffering for the entertainment of my many readers! And I'm the writer, so you should fear me! Dictatorship! :3

Vaughn: I hate you.

Julia: Now, now. We really should get to the story. BSS doesn't own any of 'us' and we do hope you enjoy the story~ ^.^

* * *

Chapter 2: Trapped plan part 1-

* * *

Vaughn's POV-

My usual cold face blazed in anger at the annoying woman before me.

"Hey cousin! How was your day?" a light brown haired lady said with a large smile

"Why do you care? Julia, you need to mind your own business." I stated emotionlessly.

Julia is my cousin, and is basically what some guys call, "The Supermodel". She is a very annoying and distracting person; she pretty much tries to "hook" me up with some girls she thinks is a perfect match for me. How annoying does this get? PLENTY! I turned to leave, realizing that the Diner will close soon if I don't hurry.

* * *

Julia's POV-

Vaughn started his way to the door. I began to panic. I really want that emerald, and make Sabrina form it into some nice earrings for Chelsea's birthday that's coming up, and of course turn her into Vaughn's girl~. I ran up to block his way in front of the soon to be opened door.

"H-h-hey, Vaughn! Where are you going?" I stuttered. Vaughn gave a cold glare, his violet eyes hardening like stone piercing right through me. I almost flinched in fear, but stood my ground trying to remember why I agreed to this deal.

_~Flashback~_

"_Hey Julia!" Sabrina came in with a sly smile and I knew that was her I-have-an-evil-plan-that-involves-Chelsea-and-getting-her-hooked-up-with-a-guy smile._

"_Who are you hooking Chelsea up with now?" I sighed already knowing the drill. _

_"Your cousin." Sabrina flatly answered. If I were drinking something right now, I would've taken a spit take._

"_You mean Vaughn?" I questioned in surprise._

"_Who else?" Sabrina retorted._

"_B-b-b-but he's a cold person with a horrible attitude! He hardly has any friends, and most girls I blind dated him with run home crying within five minutes of the date! In short, Vaughn is a mean person and will be impossible to pair him up with a decent girl, let alone Chelsea." I reasoned._

"_So what?" Sabrina answered with a board expression._

"'_So what?' Here's what! Chelsea will be heartbroken with him, or really pissed, whichever comes first! I'm her best friend too, and I don't want her to get hurt. I care for her like you do (most likely more…) and I just don't think that a short tempered cowboy and rancher will come together as a couple." I countered._

"_But I'm sure everything will go well O.K? I mean, I know that opposites attract, but we tried that when looking for a match for them, right?" I nodded. "Right! So what will happen if we put two alike-ies together? Maybe true and destined love will occur~!" Sabrina daydreamed in la la land for a while, having those spaced off stars in her eyes._

"_I still don't like the idea though… wait. What day is it?"_

"_The 23."_

…

"_Crap! I forgot that Chelsea's birthday isn't too far away! I forgot to get a present!" I exclaimed in worry. _

_"Heh… and you call yourself a friend of Chelsea's? I already got her a present! It's a sapphire necklace! It will go perfectly with her eyes!"_

"_Great… Hey can you help me Sabrina?" I asked. Sabrina gave a sly smile. Wrong person to go to for a favor…_

"_Okay… I'll give you an emerald; she loves them because they remind her of her brother, Mark. I'll even carve them into earrings to match the necklace for you! I'll just tell her that you paid a large amount of cash to get them~!" Sabrina persuaded. "Great!" I yelled. "But! You have to go with the plan to hook the two up!" Sabrina conditioned. I saw that coming…_

"_Fine…" I sighed. _

_"Yay!" Sabrina yelled in satisfaction._

"_O.K here's the idea. I need you to keep Vaughn inside the Animal Shop until I get there with Chelsea. Then we push then inside a closet for the rest of the night!" Sabrina announced._

"_Uhhh…" my face went black from the outrageous idea. "Sabrina, I don't think that a very good idea." _

_"Why?" Sabrina questioned. _

_Noticing that I will have to explain the reason, I knocked my voice down a bit. I waved a hand at Sabrina to come closer. I put a hand to her ear and whispered my explanation._

"_Well… First of all, I probably won't be able to stall Vaughn for very long, cause you know, He's very scary…" Sabrina nodded. I continued, "Secondly, how are we going to push a 6-foot tall man into a closet?" Sabrina shrugged. I gave out a sigh, "and lastly, do you know the consequences once we discharge that plan? I mean, Chelsea will get mad and probably won't forgive us for a while, but Vaughn really worries me, He's not a man who goes easy on people when they do something wrong, despite the gender!" I finished with a frightened voice, imagining what he will do._

"_Hhhhmmmmm… That will become a problem… Oh Well! Just stand your ground, and I'll think of something else, and if I can't, we'll wing it!" Sabrina cheered with a confident air punch. I sighed in desperation._

"_Alright then… but if I die, it's on your conscience got it?"_

_~End of Flashback~_

Remembering that… I needed to make my will just in case…

"Did you not hear me the first time? It's none of your god damned business, moron." Vaughn hissed. "You need to learn to stop sticking your giant nose into to other people's problems."

Ouch, now that was uncalled for…

A switch and a vein popped in the back of my head. Soon, a devilish smile formed on my face. He will regret those words!

"But Vaughn~, Mirabelle says that it's going to rain soon. Go get an umbrella or else we'll suspend your pay~" I singed in an overly sweet voice. Vaughn flinched, probably noticing the devilish charm in my voice.

Vaughn's eyebrow twitched knowing that it's already a lost match for him. "Tch. Fine. The stupid umbrella is in the closet right?"

"Yep!" I answered. I searched in my back pocket, and found the key to the closet. I followed him slowly, trying hard to hide my evil smile pulling at the corners of my mouth. As soon as he opened the door, I caught him in the moment of surprise and pushed him in the closet and turned the lock. The devil side of me has now taken over.

_

* * *

_

Julia: Yeah! That felt soo good to do! I just hate how he's so ignorant sometimes!

BSS: Umm... do you think he'll be okay? You did push him rather hard... o^O"

Julia: Oh he'll be just fine, I'm sure his hard head broke the fall. :3

BSS: You guys really don't get along at all now do you? ^_^"

Julia: Nope! I hope you guys stay tuned for the torture that we're about to inflict upon my 'dear' friends~! -w-


	3. Chapter 3 Trapped plan part 2

BSS: O.K! Here comes the next chapter!

Sabrina: I just can't wait when I get Chelsea there!

Chelsea: I'm so scared right now, I mean, no joke, haven't I suffered enough already?

BSS: Nope! It's only the beginning! ^^

Sabrina: Right! BSS owns nothing but this story, and we do hope you enjoy it~

* * *

Chapter 3: Trapped plan part 2-

* * *

Vaughn's POV-

"What the-? Hey, damn it woman! Let me out!" I growled in anger.

"No way! I'm having loads of fun with this! Besides, you have no idea how long I wanted to do this, and it's about time too!" I can just imagine Julia sticking her tongue at me. I started to back up, getting ready to ram the door down, but before I was about to get the run in, Julia predicted my actions.

"Oh, and don't think that you can break the door down, it opens on your side, heh, even if you break the door down, you would have to pay for the repairs. You got that dear cousin~?"

I then growled in frustration, getting ready to boil over. "When I get out of here, I will murder you! You got that?" I yelled at the imbecile on the other side of the door.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk, now is that any way to talk to your only cousin who tries her very best to help you?" Julia sounded like she was talking to a child, which only made me angrier.

"Like I care! Once I get out of here, this will end up in you not being here anymore, you hear me!" I threatened, blazing with wrathful anger.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, see if I care. Just sit tight till our guest and your roommate arrives~!"

"What? Hey wait-" It was too late, I heard footsteps moving further away, and from the direction of the sounds, Julia was moving toward the entrance of the animal shop.

* * *

Julia's POV-

I know I'm suppose to be worried on what Vaughn will do to me once he gets out, but I don't care any more. I mean, even though I'm mostly doing this for my own satisfaction, but I care for him too, just not now. All I have to do is wait for Sabrina and our second victim.

* * *

Sabrina's POV-

I can't wait for our idea to set sail! Even though we have absolutely no idea on what to do when Vaughn gets out, there will still be some great results afterwards! I just know it! Now all I have to do is get Chelsea (A.K.A our second victim) there to meet Vaughn (A.K.A our first victim), hope he's still in there…

* * *

Chelsea's POV-

I'm kinda afraid on what's going to happen once I meet the poor guy. And I'm sure Sabrina probably has some idea or catch in mind once I see him.

We finally got to the animal shop…

With Julia standing there with a devilish smile…

That smile on Julia can scare even the Witch Princess. Julia is usually a very kind person until you really make her angry. I was about to yell at them for what have they done until I looked back at Sabrina, and saw Sabrina give the same smile in response to Julia's…

That can't be a good sign! I started to turn around and tried to make a run for it, but they caught me. I soon felt my feet start to drag on the snow, my heels making a trail to the animal shop.

I gave a prayer to the Goddess, with hopes that this won't be the death of me.

* * *

BSS: Sorry guys, it's a bit short today.

Sabrina: I enjoyed this chapter. ^^ I really can't wait for the next one!

Julia: Same here, and with those two together and not here, it'll be much quieter during our conversations… Or at least until they get out.

BSS: Well, stay tuned for the next chapter if you will! ^^

(Sabrina jumps BSS)

Sabrina: And REVIEW too! XD


	4. Chapter 4 Locked Together

BSS: Next chapter! I want to give thanks to all of the reviews that I have gained, and hope you stay for the rest! ^^

Sabrina: We also hope you enjoy the pain of embarrassment of our two little love birds~ XD

Julia: And don't forget that BSS doesn't own anything but her story, all of 'us' are owned by Natsume Productions~ ^_^

* * *

Chapter 4- Locked Together-

* * *

Chelsea's POV-

I tried to get away, trying to find a hold in the late winter snow, but Julia and Sabrina grabbed both of my arms and pulled me inside of the animal shop.

"Oh, come on! What did I ever do to you guys? If this is about me being mean to your boyfriends, it's not my fault they were morons! You know I have a short fuse! I'm sorry okay? Now can you let me go?" I pleaded pulling away from them to try to get to freedom.

"We appreciate the apology, but NOPE~ we aren't going to let you go! This is for your own good~!" Julia answered

"Seriously Julia!" said Sabrina, "I can't believe that you winged the plan without me!"

"Well, what can I do? He was about to leave, and after the things he said to me, he brought it on himself!" answered Julia. Sabrina gave a small pout.

"H-hey, where are you guys taking me?" I nervously asked.

"Somewhere private for you and your date~!" they both answered simultaneously, and that scared the crap out of me. We kept walking, or more like they were walking, and I was dragged with them, and they stopped, but still having a firm grip on me. I looked at the door in front of me.

"A closet?" I stated. Then out of nowhere, an agitated voice rang out. "Julia! Will you let me out now?" That voice sounded familiar…

The two devils (Sabrina and Julia) unlocked the door and quickly pushed me in. though felt more like a toss than a push…

"Kyaaaa!" I screamed, waiting for the impact of hard stone ground, but it never came. I slowly opened one eye to see what happened. I landed on a person! The person none other than the man, who I met this morning, Vaughn was his name… I think…

"Have fun you two~!" singed the devils. Before I got a chance to get near the door, it closed, followed by a *click* sound. My eyes widened in horror. My face started to redden in sheer anger. I pounded on the door and yelled at them to get me out of here. I don't want to spend the night inside a cold closet in late winter with a guy I just met!

"Hey, let me out! You little-" I pounded on the door and kept turning the handle in an attempt to see if I can force the door to open.

"It's no use moron. So stop slamming the door." Vaughn's statement was hinted with annoyance.

With my anger already on full steam to the devils he was just adding more fuel to the fire. In fact, if I weren't so occupied on what to do with the devils, I would've killed him by now. Doing my best to hide my anger with a strained smile, I asked him if there was another way out.

"If there was, would I be here now?" Vaughn retorted.

…

Another vein pops!

"Grr… Sabina and Julia are going to pay! Blind dating me to a cold, antisocial idiot like you, and trapping me inside a closet with you nonetheless! Like I need this trauma! I'll kill them once I get out of here!" I growled.

"Shut up!" Vaughn yelled.

Oops… did I say all that out loud?

"Who are you to tell me what to do?" My anger now focused on him.

"The man who will make you shut up if you don't do so!" Vaughn countered.

"Oh~! I'm so scared~! Pfft! As if! What will you do tough guy?" I sneered.

Hearing a frustrated growl emit from him, I saw Vaughn's hand go for duct tape on one of the shelves and the rope that is hooked onto his belt.

Uh oh…

Maybe I did go a little far…

"Uhhh…" is all I stated; too scared for the result. I started to back away until I met the door. "Hey… I got a hammer and a whole island who somewhat cares about me… This will be bad for you if you do that…" I tried to threaten him, but failed horribly.

_Too close! He's getting too close for comfort! Much too close! Wahhh!_

My inner conscience wailed in fear, for the cowboy was getting a bit closer, but Vaughn soon backed off once he saw how scared I was. He probably thinks I learned my lesson or something.

_Yeah I learned something! That you are a big jerk! I hate him! I hate him! I HATE HIM!_

Of course I wasn't about to say that out loud, who knows what he'll do to me. Now that I think about it… Who knows what he'll do to Sabrina and Julia once he gets out! If he got this mad with a small and stupid argument, he will be furious once he gets out of here!

…

After a while, I spaced out a bit, and tried to figure a way out of this closet. I didn't want to stay the night here, and its late winter, so it's freezing in here too. Ugh… If only Sabrina didn't stop me from letting me get my stupid jacket! I looked at my small wrist watch, thankful for the small light bulb dimly lighting up the dark closet.

_10:43 pm._

Crap, it's already late, with the Island's tight and tiring schedule, everyone is probably already asleep. I put both of my hands up to my head and ruffled my hair (or at least whatever was not covered by my bandanna); thinking of what to do and see if I finished my animal chores…

My animals are already inside of their homes warm and fed. Knight, my horse, is inside too, and fed also, and lastly my dog, Wolf fang, a Siberian Husky, is inside of my house, fed too, but I'm concerned that Wolf fang will get worried about me and try to get out. I just hope that he will be okay.

I checked the lock if it was pickable, and maybe I can get out with one of my hair pins that I usually kept in handy, but it wasn't… Damn it! Those devils are always so lucky! My head hurting from thinking more than I usually do, I caused more frustrated pain to it by slamming it against the door.

Once I came back to my senses, I realized that I was sweating due to looking for a way out, and thanks to that I started to shiver when the cold air froze my sweat on me. I clenched my teeth in reacting to the cold.

Vaughn came up with a blanket. "Take it. It's the only one."

"Huh?" I dumbly questioned.

"You need it more than me." Vaughn answered, staring at my long-sleeved shirt and sweats. He seemed kind of nice when he said that, but when you have as much independence and pride as I do, you just don't notice it.

"Nah, no thanks, I'll live." I blankly stated.

Vaughn sighed and came up behind me. I was about to question on what he was doing until he grabbed me and pulled me down into his grasp. Vaughn wrapped the blanket around himself and me with him. I was about to argue with him, but he got to me first.

"Stop being a stubborn idiot. Yes you'll live, but most likely get sick. So get over it, it's just for tonight. Seriously, what kind of farmer lets herself get sick when she has living beings on her farm waiting for her?" Vaughn convinced me, but I regretted the first chance, then I won't be stuck in a blanket with him, but was thankful all the same. (not really)

Vaughn's body heat soon surrounded me, and the blanket acted like a shield, locking the warmth in. The cold instantly left, and now actually feeling quite hot. I looked up at him, and saw in the dim light, a light pink hue on his cheeks. Realizing that he was blushing made me notice the close proximity we were in. My face soon warmed up, my cheeks slightly flushed once I felt the embrace tighten a bit; it felt like time has just stopped. (kinda cheesy though huh?)

_Wait. Was I enjoying this? Why? I mean I thought I hated this guy, heck I hate all guys except for Mark! But this feels kinda nice, wait. What am I thinking? Bad Chelsea! Bad Chelsea! You are not supposed to like anyone; it will end up just like __**that**__ time! But I wouldn't say I __hate__ this…_

My two consciences started fighting over this, but I soon gave up to the fluff side of me. I gave a light smile, remembering this warm, welcoming feeling, even though the world felt cold. Maybe I should thank those two for this, but I guess it's still too early to tell.

I soon looked up at him again, and saw that he was fast asleep. I soon relaxed a bit, and drifted off to dream land, my sapphire eyes slowly closing with a smile still plastered on my face, though what I dreamt was not a dream, but a nightmare.

* * *

BSS: So… Do you guys do not even feel the slightest feeling of guilt?

Sabrina: Nope! I know it's good for them! Did you see them though? Weren't they cute? XD

Julia: Yeah! What's the worse that could happen? And yeah, I just know they're perfect of eachother! X3

BSS: …. (should I let them know? But, not like it's anything new…)

Julia: Hmm… BSS did you say something?

BSS: OH! No I said, did you guys like the show, and I do hope you review! ^_^"

Sabrina: Right! Stay tuned for the next chapter! ^^


	5. Chapter 5 Unforgettable Dream

BSS: Hey everybody! It's BSS with another chapter! The others won't be here today mostly because Chelsea asked since this is rather personal. Let's respect her and get to the chapter. I also own nothing but the story, and I do hope you enjoy it! ^^ Also… I'm soooooooo sorry~~~~~~~~ if I make any of the mineral town's people look bad, and heed this too, and comment about hating the character difference as they really aren't like that, well… you haven't been paying much attention and I KNOW that they don't really act that way. -x- They're kids back then too, so… they've changed XD

* * *

Chapter 5- Unforgettable dream-

* * *

Chelsea's POV-

I woke up to find myself inside of a bed. I looked around, and noticed that this wasn't my house, or even the closet in that matter. I looked around and saw my old black and white roses wallpaper. I then looked at my bed, the blanket and pillow was black, and the bed sheets and inner blanket was white. I then saw my Death Note poster, after all of those familiar things; I finally realized where I am now. I'm in my old home, Mineral town. I looked at my full body mirror expecting a smaller version of me in it, expecting those "Experiencing your past in your past self", but oddly found myself looking at my usual body.

I ran to my black and white curtains, and looked outside. I now saw a younger version of me, probably at around third grade, getting bullied by a bunch of fifth-grade boys from my school. My eyes narrowed at myself in misfortune. All of the sudden, the whole place flashed before my eyes, popping me into the scene of what was happening.

"Stop! Stop it! It hurts! Stop!" my younger self cried out in desperation.

Large, pearl-sized tears collected into her eyes, and soon overflowed, leaving small puddles on the ground. Already, large bruises of purple and blue covered her arms and legs as the boys kept kicking her. I gave a frown in anger, right about to curse at myself for being so weak, but the stomps and yelps stopped suddenly.

"Hey! Stay away from her!" A fifth grade-looking Mark pulled up a guy to his eyes by his collar.

"Quit bothering my little sister!" Marks eyes blazed in anger, giving a hard push to the boy. "What's with you Kai? I thought you were my friend!"

"She killed my mom! As if I could let her get away with that!" His remark felt like dry ice on my skin, and before I was just about to jump in to stop this, I saw a boy creep up behind Mark with a bat.

My eyes started to widen, remembering this event. I faltered, landing on my knees, and turned away in fear when I heard a *thunk* and a *thud*. I heard the smaller voice of mine scream out in horror.

After gripping my head tightly for a few seconds, I opened my eyes slowly and the only sound coming to my ears was a soft sob. I looked up. Mark was sitting down against a pole and my younger self clutching his left arm, her head down on his shoulder, crying. Mark's face gave a soft, reassuring smile, causing the blood flowing from his head to make a trail down his face.

"*hic I'm so *sob s-sorry!" The girl cried to her brother.

"Don't worry about it… I'm fine." His eyes softened as he tried to make contact with the younger Chelsea's eyes.

"F…F-Fine? You call this fine?" she yelled in despair.

My eyes started to tingle when I kept watching the depressing scene, but right then the image before me, the city, shattered into another horrible scene.

* * *

"Hey dad, today's my birthday right?" A young me, about the same age as the other one, asked a question to a familiar looking man.

"Yes. Is there something you want for today?" he gently asked.

The man had dark brown hair, a cap on backwards, and his bangs came out of the opening of the cap. It then hit me; this man was my father, Jack. That day was _that_ birthday…

"I never see mommy and big brother here. Can mommy and big brother come here?" The little me asked.

My father gave a soft smile and answered with a nod.

"I'll give mommy a call, for now, why don't you go play with Knight, your horse?"

"O.K!" she gave a large, bright smile.

Again, the scene shattered before me, and now a large farm in the corner of town appeared. A young woman with angelic, long blonde hair and heavenly, bright blue eyes picked up a ringing phone. Just by her, a ten-year-old Mark was standing by her with curious eyes.

"Hello?... Oh, hi Jack! What is it? Sure, not a problem!" A short conversation was shared on the phone.

"Who was that mom?" Mark asked.

"That was your dad, he's wondering if we'd like to go to your sister's little birthday celebration. Do you want to go?"

"Yeah!" Mark gave an enthusiastic grin and followed mom out into the town.

I became curious as all of my memories are never crystal clear in my mind. I followed then out of town to the northern area, right by the super market. It wasn't till it was too late when I noticed a light *click* sound of a gun being loaded. My mother stopped, noticing the sound too. I turned in the opposite direction to see a flash of the metal bullet, beginning to run its course as a loud blast filled the area.

"No!" I gave a piercing scream, and made a futile move trying to come in between the bullet and my mother. To my surprise, the bullet fazed right through me and still made its way into my mother's chest. I froze to the sound of my mother's scream of unbearable pain, and slowly turned around to see her on the ground, a giant pool of blood on the steel-gray sidewalk.

"MOM! Get up! Please! Don't die! You're not going to die, okay?" shouts emitted from Mark, trying with all his might to carry her with his small stature. My mother gave a soft smile, gently holding mark's hand to calm him.

"No… Mark… You must get away from here…" A pitifully small sound came out of her to represent her voice.

"But…!"

"No… Go now… Go to your dad's house… run… as fast as you can…" the familiar sound of the same click rang out.

"Go…! Run!..." she gave a loud shout in desperation, and Mark reluctantly granted her last wish.

"Is this what really happened…?" I spoke silently with a horrified stare at my mother who was clinging at the end of her tread.

"My dear son… and my beautiful daughter… May the goddess of good fortune… smile upon you from now on…" My mother's eyes filled up with tears, only a few making their way out. She gave out a last sigh, and her shallow breathing ceased, the small rise of her chest stopped, and her eyes glazed over to a dull black and blue color.

* * *

Tears began to spring up into my eyes, but before a single one came out, the scene, again, broke apart, but this time into nothing but black. I looked around in sudden fear and noticed a dull gray shade into one side and a vibrant red on the other side of my vision. Voices started to sound out from the red side.

"Pitiful child… Sign of the Devil… Curse… Death's helper… Black-winged angel… Die…" The voices rang out, a new one coming after the other. They ranged from many voices, women, men, even children. Just when I was about to get crazy of the horrid voices, A new voice and a small figure came to the corner of my eye.

"*hic* Stop! *sob* Leave me alone!" A childish, girl voice rose above all of them.

"Go… *hic* Away!" A smaller Chelsea ran right into me. The little thing clung onto my jean shorts with a tight grip. She looked up at me, thick paths of tears streaming down her sapphire eyes.

"*whine* Miss! *sob* Help m-me! M-Make… *hic* them go away!" she cried.

Yet, when she looked out to the red side and looked up again, I paused. Those sapphire eyes that used to be so innocent changed. The little girl's expression changed into a serious one. The sapphire eyes turned into a violent bright crimson. I gave a gasp in unexpected terror. Instinctively, I pushed her away, knocking her into the transparently black floor. The voice that came out wasn't her; it wasn't me, not anymore.

"What's wrong? Is it too hard to handle now?" The smaller Chelsea… no, the unfamiliar girl's face twisted into a horrifying grin.

I slowly shake my head from side to side, and started to back away to the gray side. My slow steps flowed into a dead sprint, wanting to get away from the girl so badly.

I kept moving, I never took a look back, and finally… finally, I got to the gray side of the area. I looked up, and noticed a bunch of mirrors around me. Every mirror I took a glance at, all of them had an event of when it was my birthday and somebody died.

* * *

_Mirror 1-_

"_Uncle?"_

…

"_Uncle! Get up! Wake up! Please!"_

* * *

_Mirror 2-_

"_Mom! Don't die! You can't die from a tumor like this!"_

* * *

_Mirror 3-_

"_Grandpa. You forgot to take your medici- Grandpa! Are you okay? Please! Say something!"_

* * *

I stared at the mirror in front of me. It held nothing but my reflection. What looked back at me was myself crying. I lifted my hands up to my cheeks to feel some tears trickling down. The same voice rang out.

"You should've died from the beginning… Disappointing that someone like Clair and Jack had to give birth to something like you… Leave this world demon…"

I pulled my hands up to my ears, clenching them closed, wanting the sound to go away.

"Stop! Make it stop! I said to STOP!" I made my shouts as loud as they can be, then all of the sudden, everything became black. My eyes felt blank, my voice felt like it was yanked out of me, my heart felt like it was stretched and stabbed. One last voice rang inside of my head, the voice of the unfamiliar girl.

"You know, the color and the stone, sapphire, is known to be called the depressing sea. It's a disgustingly beautiful color that stands for sadness."

A few last tears fell out, until my eyes closed and my real ones opened.

* * *

BSS: Sorry that it's been a while, even though I promised that I'd get more chapters in! When I finished this, I slightly became depressed for Chelsea and how messed up my mind can really be... TT^TT Please review on how you think of this revised chapter. I hope you don't think my mind is **that** messed up... T.T


	6. Chapter 6 Back to the Act

BSS: Hmmm… Now that I think about it… This is a bit more like a hurt/comfort, isn't it?

Sabrina: Hurt/comfort? How? What do you mean?

Julia: Yeah? Did something of the sort happened?

BSS: Ahhh… N-Nope! None at all! ^^"

Julia: Hmmm… You sure?

Sabrina: Never mind that! Let's get to the story already!

* * *

Chapter 6- Back to the Act-

* * *

Chelsea's POV-

I woke up with a start. I was breaking in a cold sweat from the unwanted nightmare occurrence. Feeling something wet on my cheeks, I rubbed it off, knowing that they were tears that streamed down. I thought about the dream over… it troubled me, but (!) I won't let it get to me! It's just a dream! I gave a few confident slaps to my cheeks and took a look around where I was. After a good look, I nearly forgot where I was, and remembered that I was locked up in the stupid closet and all of this because of the little devils' deeds…

Once I finally remembered, I quickly looked up to check if I woke Vaughn up from my abrupt awakening or any possible movements I made over night, but only to see Vaughn still asleep. I then sighed in relief, but a small blush rose to my cheeks.

'_Wait! Why do I care? So what if he wakes up?' shouted a slightly flustered Hater Chelsea._

'_Hey, hey. Did you remember the occurrence we had last night though? You looked like you were enjoying it, and you don't want to bother the guy, huh?~' The fluffier side of me accused._

Both me and my hater side blushed, thanks a lot fluff- or should I say stupid- me…

I quickly looked at my watch to look at the time, knowing that it was winter, and I usually wake up later than usual.

_9:00 am._

I froze. (No pun intended) I was supposed to be feeding and grooming my animals by now! I jumped up in panic, waking Vaughn up in the process. (Was still in his lap with the blanket around) Apparently Vaughn must've forgotten where he was, because he looked around the room and then at me in complete confusion. After a few seconds, Vaughn seemed to have finally realized, because his eyes widened in realization, and pulled his hat down, like he was hiding his face from embarrassment.

'_I wonder if he remembers what happened last night…' Both my sides wondered._

My thoughts were interrupted by a *click* sound from outside. My eyes widened and I turned around in surprise and excitement. Sabrina and Julia came inside.

"Hey guys~! How was your sleepover? You didn't do anything weird last night now did you?" Sabrina chimed. Julia seemed to be hiding behind Sabrina's back, her smile just as accusing as Sabrina's.

My face instantly blushed from Sabrina's last sentence, but it was quickly replaced with anger. I marched up to them, clearly in no mood of Sabrina's little sex jokes and allowed myself to yell in the greatest and highest volume my voice box allowed.

"Ok… Let me first say this. DO YOU GUYS HAVE FISH FOR BRAINS?", Julia flinched when I mentioned her least favorite thing, "DID YOU THINK THIS WOULD HELP ANYBODY? YOU SHOULD BE GLAD I DIDN'T KILL YOU YET!" I screamed at the top of my lungs in complete anger.

'_But it made you happy though, right?~' Fluff Chelsea mentioned._

_'Shut up before you end up with a hole in your head!' Hater Chelsea yelled._ I left those two to their own problems. My focus was now on Sabrina and Julia.

Sabrina broke into a cold sweat, and Julia started to cower behind Sabrina, now I know I harsh, but usually they don't do that until I start taking out some of my tools from my rucksack. I stopped thinking once I felt a strong dark aura behind me.

Now that is never a good sign!

I soon started to get scared, but slowly turned around to see Vaughn surrounded in the color purple full of wrathful, raged air. I broke into a cold sweat too.

Vaughn's next words scared the hell out of me. "I'lL GivE YoU ThrEe SecOndS…" he said in a dark, threatening voice.

I started to back away from the two girls to stay out of range from the dark aura. Then I heard a few "Eeep!"s from them, and by the next second, they were out of the door. Vaughn slowly walked to the exit of the door, and soon left the animal shop.

'_Note to self, never make Vaughn angry or he will turn into Dark Creepy man!' said both of my mini Chelsea's that were hiding behind my neck. _

After agreeing with myself, I dashed my way to my farm. 'Five more days until the end of winter' I noted to myself. I came into my barn with a surprise. All of my cows and sheep have been fed and groomed! I found a note on my little shipping bin:

* * *

_Dear Chelsea,_

_Sabrina and I did the farm work for you. I thought that it was unfair that we took you from your farm without letting you know that you'll be gone for the night. Think of this as an apology, okay? _

_Your horse got groomed and given it's exercise, your cows and sheep are taken care of as you can see, and your chickens are fed to the brim, but your dog, Wolf Fang, won't eat anything, we tried many times, and I checked if he was sick, but he's completely healthy. Check on him for us, kay? He's probably just worried about you._

_Again we are sorry about this, but we couldn't help ourselves. oxoxo_

_Your friend,_

_Julia_

* * *

I couldn't help but smile when I read the letter. Even though they are annoying, they, at the very least, know how to act like real friends. Knowing that I'll have to check up on Wolf Fang, I walked out of the barn, exposed to the chilling air. I made my way down to my house, making deep footprints in the 10 inch snow in the process.

Once I opened the door, a large Siberian husky jumped me. I fell down from the sudden weight, and went backwards toward the snow, ending in a great poof~! His pants came in and out with light, white clouds of his breath disappearing in the freezing atmosphere. I gave a small laugh as his licks covered my face in worry and relief.

"Hahaha! Hey Wolf fang! Did ya miss me?" I gasped, struggling under his weight. After a while, Wolf Fang soon finished, but let out a bark in disapproval to my outing last night. I swear, the way he treats me is like a father to a daughter who's been out for too long!

…

'A father to a daughter'… I miss that feeling. I got some hot chocolate ready, but got lost in my thoughts, my dream now overcoming my concentration. Just thinking that if I turned back time, they would still be with me right now… If only I didn't make dad give that phone call…

I lowered my eyes a bit, feeling the horrid dream replay in the back of my mind, but soon let it go once I heard knocking on the door. Trying to pull a fake smile, I answered it, hoping that nobody would notice. To my surprise, Sabrina and Julia were in the front door.

"H-h-hey Chelsea! You think that we can hide in here for a bit, just until Vaughn cools down?" Julia asked with fear in her face. I let them in knowing I had to repay them for taking care of the farm, I let them sleep inside of the guest room, and I looked at my clock.

_9:23 pm._

A lot of time must've passed when I was lost in my thoughts… I went to my bed, and started to get ready for the next day. Sabrina and Julia told their goodnights and departed in their rooms. I slipped into bed, but just couldn't fall asleep. Then I heard knocking on my door.

"I'm coming in." the voice was Sabrina. "Hey Chelsea… is there something bothering you?" Sabrina said in worry. I sat up, my eyes wide with surprise.

I stared at the light figure outlined in the dark room, Sabrina's face was mixed with worry and curiosity, I tried not to focus on her face and just looked at her silky, pink sleepwear. I plastered a lopsided grin; my eyes closed to hide my true emotions and replied to her as if I was making a joke.

"What are you talking about? Has Julia re-circuited your brain and turned you into a worrywart too? I'm just fine, but I think I should get you to a doctor if you're going to keep at it." I remarked. Sabrina let out a giggle.

"Hehe… I guess you're right. I was just wondering if being trapped with Vaughn caused anything weird. I wouldn't want my best friend's brain to get more scrambled than it usually is." She remarked back.

"Now what's that supposed to mean?" I replied, putting a bit more into it.

"Oh, nothing~, see you in the morning~" Sabrina turned around and left with a wave. After she left, I let out my sigh that was sitting on top of my lungs during the whole conversation.

* * *

Sabrina's POV-

Something, something about Chelsea was off this evening, and I just had to know about it. I gave a few knocks on the door, letting myself in without a voice of consent. I let out a small 'I'm coming in' and saw Chelsea lying on top of her bed. I only met Chelsea's eyes for an instant, before she changed them. They were different. They were missing that same old spark that was ready to fight when given the fuel to start it.

"There's… Something is bothering you, right?" I asked subconsciously. Chelsea sat up in alarm and quickly replaced it. With a short conversation, I had to admit, Chelsea's a pretty good actress, I knew it, but I played along anyways. It was probably for the best.

I returned back to the guest room, unsatisfied with Chelsea's little 'cover-up'. When I opened the door, I found Julia standing by the window in her silky sky blue pajamas. She looked at me with serious eyes.

"You talked to Chelsea, right?" Julia demanded.

"Y-yes.' I stuttered.

Julia gave a small frown, "You're not the only one who can notice when something is wrong, especially with Chelsea." Julia corrected.

"Of course" I gave a small smile.

"You know it too, right? Chelsea seemed different when we came."

"Right…" that word ended our small conference, as we both retreated into the large king-sized bed.

* * *

Chelsea's POV-

I was still laying there, a million thoughts echoing inside my head. I didn't understand it. My past, it's coming back much too clearly, so much so, that it's starting to hurt my head. Please tell me, goddess, why is it happening now? Just when I was about to move on, please (!) tell me why!

* * *

BSS: soooo... What have we learned today?

Julia & Sabrina: Something is wrong with our little Chelsea!

Chelsea: Don't call me that! Nothing's wrong, and I wish you guys would really put a sock in it!

Sabrina: There's our little Chelsea's spark!

Julia: I guess we were worried for nothing!

Chelsea: -_- *sigh

BSS: Ah... Well, like always, I hope my older reviewers read this and forgive my revising, and I do hope you review if I've improved on my writing~ Please and thank you~ ^^


	7. Chapter 7 Interference

BSS: Hahh~ Another day, another chapter!

Chelsea: And another annoyance to deal with…

BSS: Don't say that! People are glad that I'm making the chapters better!

Chelsea: Doesn't change the fact that it's still a load of bull that you're changing the chapters like this and your older viewers are waiting for the newest one and you're stuck on the older ones. Not to mention that they might have to read over this again to get it, and with all of the little extras you add, the chapter numbers might have to change as well!

BSS: Shut up! You've said too much! Hurry! To the story! –Oh! I don't own Harvest Moon either!-

* * *

Chapter 7- Interference-

* * *

Chelsea's POV-

I woke up with a surprised jolt. I finally got some sleep last night, but stayed up for most of the time trying to rethink the reason why I suddenly remembered my horrible past. I slapped my cheeks and pulled on a confident face. It's time to forget about it and enjoy my day, it's time to forget the past and look into the future… At least that's what Mark says to me. Since I'm here for father's farm, Mark has mother's farm to take care of, and he has many friends in Mineral town, and I guess I have many friends on the island. I smiled a bit at that thought; a frown was quickly gained as I remembered that Julia and Sabrina are here also. That knowledge came from the large crash that came from my kitchen.

'_I wonder what mess they caused this time….'_ Both of my sides sighed in annoyance.

I looked at my clock; prepared on what time it will say.

_6:41 am_

I stopped and opened my mouth in surprise. I woke up forty-one minutes later than I'm supposed to! (I'm a perfectionist…) I jumped out of bed and quickly changed into my yellow work shirt, winter jeans, my light coat, and lastly my trusty red bandana from my late mother. I put my short jeans and light orange jacket on the side for that it's winter. My hair was a mess, and I quickly smoothed it down with my brush I keep on my nightstand. I ran out of my bedroom to see what trouble those devils has left me.

Many veins popped on the sides of my head when I saw the mess. Breakfast was made from them I was guessing, and on the floor was a bunch of crumbs, pancake mix, and my dog, Wolf Fang, with a pancake in his mouth. Judging from Julia on the floor with flour all over her, and Sabrina's hand grabbed on Wolf Fang's black bandana I put on him, the situation was very obvious.

Nonetheless, I asked them how this had happened, trying my very best (and failing) to hide my anger and wrath. Sabrina was the first that answered.

"Now I know this looks bad, but there's a reason for this, and after we're done explaining, we'll all laugh on how this came to be." Sabrina tried to keep a positive smile, but sweat was obviously seen on the side of her head. Julia was the one who decided to explain this whole situation.

"Okay, you see Chelsea; it all went like this…."

* * *

_~Flashback~_

_Julia's POV-_

_I woke up from the alarm I set on so that I could make breakfast and help Chelsea with her farm work, because of what happened last night. (This wasn't told to Chelsea.) I looked around on the king-sized bed for Sabrina, for this bed was large enough to hold us both. Sabrina wasn't in bed, so I guessed she was already up, until I heard light snoring. I looked down and jumped back in surprise._

_There she was; Sabrina was on the floor snoozing away… She must've fallen over last night… she was always a fidgety sleeper. I smiled in amusement; I then got down to her level, and noticed that see fell asleep with her glasses on. I sighed from the peaceful look on her face, and prodded her with a finger._

"_Hey, Sabrina. Wake up. Hello~?" I started to get annoyed, my face held an irritated look. Time of a wake-up call! I took in a deep breath, glad that this room is sound proof. "YO! SABRINA! GET UP; IT'S TIME TO MAKE BREAKFAST!" I yelled in the top of my lungs. Sabrina gave a jolt, and sat up immediately, our heads colliding in effect. A large hollow *thump* was heard from the impact. We fell backwards and clutched our pained heads._

"_What did you do that for?" Sabrina shouted in both pain and anger. _

"_To get you to wake up! We caused trouble for Chelsea when we came by last night, so we agreed on making breakfast for all of us, remember?" I countered. Sabrina gave a pout and got up, and all of the sudden, she gave a cheery smile. Boy, does she recover quickly… Sabrina then grabbed my hand pulled me up and all the way to Chelsea's kitchen. We then started on breakfast._

_~Flashback paused~_

* * *

"O.K… Keep going." Chelsea told me. I continued on the story, hoping that she doesn't get angry at the end, though, that was a let down, you could clearly see Chelsea's head give off steam in anger.

* * *

_~Flashback continued~_

_Me and Sabrina continued working until a large monster appeared! Well not a monster, but Chelsea's huge dog, Wolf Fang. We just finished making the pancakes, until Wolf Fang came up and made a whiny sound, begging for a piece I was guessing. Even though Wolf Fang is now a full grown dog, he is a pro when it comes to begging and puppy dog faces, so good that it's evil…_

_Wolf Fang came up and gave a whine with a puppy dog face to add the guilt effect. I've known Wolf Fang for a long time, so I just ignored it, Sabrina too. Then Wolf Fang gave a small frown knowing that he can't get to us with that trick, so then he tacked me to the ground when I was carrying some flour back to the pantry. My whole face was covered in the flour, now everywhere was completely white like the late winter snow outside. Not bothering to get up, I suddenly heard a crash. Wolf Fang got to the pan full of pancakes, and the pan came crashing down to the floor, but the last batch still safe on the table. I'm guessing Sabrina got mad because she yelled, "Give me back that pancake!" and, "Wolf Fang, you are one dead dog!"_

_~End of Flashback~_

"You then came by to see what happened, and here we are. In your kitchen with flour covered me, and Sabrina and your dog fighting over a pancake." I finished. Chelsea still didn't look very happy, in fact, she was pretty darn angry.

* * *

Chelsea's POV-

I pierced two holes in my "dear" and "lovely" friends, seeing as they still created a huge mess in **MY** kitchen.

"Hey guys. I'm not laughing, so if don't you want me to kill you on the spot, I suggest you clean it up while I'm out doing my chores for my animals." I suggested. After that, the two trouble makers willingly agreed to this, and immediately started to clean.

I made my way out to my barn, the snow still piling up to my knees. I swear, how come summer days are so hot, but winter is so cold? Today was winter the 28… two more till New Years Eve, and then the festival. And then Witch Princess's birthday tomorrow… I'll come by tomorrow to see what I can do for her. I was friends with all the girls on the island, so minding them and their birthdays was natural to me.

I came out of the stable, the last place to go for my chores, and now they are all finished. I checked my mini wristwatch.

_10:03 am_

They should be done now… I walked back to my house to find a message on the door.

* * *

_Dear Chelsea,_

_We finished cleaning up, and made you a chicken teriyaki bowl, your favorite! And don't worry; we didn't kill any of your chickens or anything! This is both a thank you and an apology, we didn't want to make you any trouble to begin with, and you were too nice to kick us out or something… So thanks and Sorry! _

_Julia and I had to leave early due to our jobs. I need to go back to father as an accountant, and Julia has to go back to the animal shop to pick up some of the animals Vaughn brought. _

_Sincerely,_

_Sabrina_

_P.S: if you're interested in Vaughn, he's only here on Wednesdays and Thursdays, he was here on Tuesday, because of a schedule fluke. Good Luck~!_

* * *

I sighed at the last part, but nonetheless thankful for them both. I walked inside and found the chicken teriyaki bowl. I first fed Wolf Fang some of my homemade beef that he loves, and I enjoyed my lunch, with one thing on my mind:

My birthday is not too far away from now…

* * *

Chelsea: Again, LOAD OF BULL for your older reviewers. They might be stuck on having to go back and reread the whole thing!

BSS: I'm sorry! Please forgive me and reveiew if you can! TT^TT


	8. Chapter 8 Witch's little test

BSS: Today, we have the Witch Princess to our little before show!

Witch: Yes. It's a pleasure to meet you all.

BSS: Now I hear that you're going to set Chelsea up with something.

Witch: Yep! I love conducting my experiments on those who're willing. Chelsea, though, makes a fun little tester~ it makes me happier since she sees me more than that silly nuisance of a goddess…

BSS: =x=" yes… Well, we should get on to the story, right? Witch, will you do the honors? By the way, can you do a little something, something to put our little pair together for a while?

Witch: Of course. *ahem: Miss BSS doesn't own anything but the story that you are witnessing. All of 'us' are owned by Natsume… and if only I can conduct my experiments on them for owning me, then I don't have to be in the category of the Harvest Goddess… But I guess the little extra to do what I want will have to do for the time being.

BSS: …Right! On to the story!

* * *

Chapter 8- Witch's little test-

* * *

Chelsea's POV-

I ran up to Witch Princess's house remembering that it's her birthday today, and since I owed her, I have no choice but to go and see what she wants. I cautiously walked up her house in case of any trap doors or her usual tricks to catch me off guard. I knocked on the door carefully, still alarm of any traps.

"Come in." a womanly voice welcomed. I walked in with the same amount of caution. Witch Princess maybe a friend, but to her, I'm probably just a test rat, so I always keep my distance, but I have good times her too… when I'm not mad at her for doing something to me.

The reason why I'm usually so careful around the Witch Princess is that she's actually a real witch! She is an elegant looking lady too. She has long blonde hair and sharp looking red eyes, they give off both a warm, but chilling feeling… did that make any sense? Never mind. The Witch Princess wears a purple dress with a pouch around the waist line, and a cape with a skull head button, with the black boots to put the look together, she can make any guy swoon if she wanted to.

"Oh, Chelsea. You came for my birthday didn't you?" I nodded slowly. "Great! Now can you let me borrow your body as my birthday gift?" Witch asked in a confident tone. I gave an odd glare at her as of what she had in mind, but only answered with another nod.

"Good! Okay Chelsea, I need you to drink the new potion I had just created." I faltered.

"You just created? Shouldn't you test it on something else first?" I pleaded.

"What do you mean? I am. You are my little test rat, right?" Witch replied. She handed me the small vile and I only stared at it. Witch waved her hands to urge me to do it and I swallowed it with a single gulp. While gulping it down, I tasted the bitter herbs and odd ingredients that were mixed in and felt a shockwave rumble throughout my body once I finished. I took a look down to myself, patting around for any changes.

"Hey… nothing happened…" I stated, but Witch gave a different answer.

"Umm… Chelsea… I beg to differ…" I got nervous when Witch was staring at my face and hair.

"What? What happened?" I asked, putting my hand up to my hair in worry, but then noticed something different with my hair. I looked at it, stared really hard, hoping that I'm hallucinating, and it wasn't real. Alas, it was… I grabbed my hair and realized that it had turned into a silvery white! I started to panic.

"Witch! What did you do to me?" I exclaimed, clearly not happy with my sudden change of hair color.

"Well, you see, umm…" Witch started to hesitate, scanning over her clipboard on her desk, looking over the results of what happens.

"Spit it out!" I yelled, no longer trying to be patient.

"I took some of that guy's DNA hoping that I can change a human into him, but I guess the only effect was hair and eye color change…" Witch explained.

"WHAT?" I blurted out in complete surprise.

"But I'm afraid that's not all; Julia asked me for this and wanted me to put some of your DNA into his drink." Once Witch spoke of Julia's name, I had a really good hunch as of what's going on.

I ran into her bathroom and looked at the mirror to see my changes. I noticed that my hair kept its shape, still framing my face, which I'm glad of, but the color was a familiar silver. Then I looked at my eyes. They still held the same shape of my real eyes, but the color was completely different too. The eyes were a piercing amethysts color, and just looking at those colors means that _he_ has my hair and eye color! This is going to be disastrous!

"Witch where's the guy now?" I quickly asked.

"Right outside, Julia told me that he's going to be over at the stupid Goddess pon-" I was already out the door before Witch finished her sentence. I am so going to get her back for this!

After three minutes of endless running, I finally got to the Goddess pond, and noticed a fuming chestnut haired man staring at his reflection disbelievingly at the pond. I quickly made my way up to him.

"Vaughn!" I yelled his name to get his attention. The once silver haired man, now chestnut, saw me and held a surprised expression. I looked surprised too, his hair was still the same shape, but has a light chestnut color, and going down to his eyes, they were a bright sapphire, much like the gem, but on Vaughn, they were pretty much cold fire instead… Those colors definitely did not suite him!

"Chelsea? Is that you? Wait. Why are our hair color and eye color switched?" Vaughn questioned. From the sound of him, he was really confused, but held the same irritated tone like his usual self.

"Ahh… well, this is quite awkward. Um… I know who will help us… well, she was the one who caused it anyways, but I'll explain on the way." I told him.

* * *

_One long explanation later…_

* * *

Vaughn still held a skeptical look, but seemed to believe most of it anyways. We walked inside of Witch's house, and confronted her with very irritated looks.

"Now Witch… you have two choices. One: You can change us back to our usual selves or two: you loose both of your arms. Now pick before I pick for you." I explained with a menacing voice.

"Now, now Chelsea, there's no need for violence… and I'll gladly change you back for the payment of not killing me." Witch replied with sweat running down at the side of her head.

After a while, we finally got changed back to our usual selves, looking back on it, I noticed that Vaughn did seem to be a little alike to _him_, he reminded me of _him…_

'_Hey, hey, stop! Don't think of him!' hater me said. _

_'For once I agree!' fluff me also agreed. _

_'Yes! Don't think of that abusive jerk and keep on moving forward! Nobody but us knows, and heck we're a part of you! Who will believe you now if that happened seven years ago? No one! So stop moping, you got a farm to take care of! Just stop thinking of him!' _

Both of my sides agreed and started to desperately plead. I followed what they had just said and forgot about it, because remembering him, will only cause trouble for the people around me, and hurt me the most…

* * *

I left the forest and came back home, thankful of Vaughn leaving right after we got back to our normal selves, but many things still confused me. I started talking to Wolf Fang, and he probably noticed the sadness in my voice. Wolf Fang climbed up onto my bed, and started to whine in worry, his head lying on my lap. I gave a sad smile, and I couldn't do it. I couldn't stop remembering my horrid past, full of hate, misery, and death. All this caused by _him_…

I started to question myself, wondering why I chose to remember now. Was because of my close involvement of people, my attitude, Julia, Sabrina, or is it because of Vaughn… I held a pained expression, in remembrance of that horrible man, but how did Vaughn remind me of him? His attitude to other people, his unusual kindness to me, or their looks and obsessions, I'm not sure…

But I told myself to put that off till tomorrow night. I still have people who need me, and its New Years Eve tomorrow, so I gotta look cheerful, even though it was the same day that happened…

I snuggled under my blanket, Wolf Fang's body protectively around me, knowing that I'm feeling unsecure today. I soon closed my eyes in hopes of an undreamt night. None about _him_ I begged, and soon lost myself to the darkness of sleep.

* * *

BSS: Sooo~ how did it go witch?

Witch: Not very well... this is actually the first time seeing Chelsea in her full force of anger when something goes wrong.

Chelsea: As if i know... You were being bothersome...

BSS: You... seem different...

Chelsea: As if you wouldn't know!

BSS: Right! But I'm playing along what the story's going through.

Witch: Well, this isn't my problem, so I'm going to go right now.

(Leaves through door.)

BSS: Since when was that door there...?

Chelsea: ... Well... bye.

(Leaves through door)

BSS: *sigh* Well, again, I hope you review, and keep reading this story when more revisions are being made. Thankies~ ^w^


	9. Chapter 9 Tainted Feeling

BSS: Man, even though I went further than chapter 9, I still can't believe that people like this story, and nevertheless, made it this far…

Chelsea: Yeah, I'm surprised that anyone like the crap you write.

BSS: Hey! You're just saying that because of what I put you through in the story!

Chelsea: Exactly!

BSS: Wah… Okay, to the story before this conversation gets any worse… I own nothing but this story, thank you and enjoy! ^_^

Chelsea: I'm going to kill you sooner or later…

* * *

Chapter 9- Tainted Feeling-

* * *

Chelsea's POV-

I found myself slowly awakening to feel a chill run through my spine. Ugh. Note to self, keep the window locked and away from Wolf Fang's reach. I opened my eyes, but only took in the color of white. I quickly sat up, only noticing snow around me. I quickly rubbed my eyes, making sure I wasn't hallucinating, but after a few minutes of blinking and shaking my head, I was pretty sure that it's real.

Yet, the surroundings are different… not like completely different, but it doesn't feel like I'm on the island anymore… Docks by the beach, two houses by the sea and docks, and a stone staircase ascending up to what it looks like from this distance, a plaza or square of some sort. As I started to dig in the snow to the sand beneath it, it finally hit me. Mineral town! What am I doing here? I jumped up from that realization, and dashed to the post sign of daily news to figure out what's going on.

_30, winter. Let's enjoy the New Years! Be sure to stop by at 6:00 pm! Have a happy New Year!_

It's what it said at first, but a red –Notice– sticker was pasted on:

_Notice! This year closed down due to heavy snow, Will continue at spring 1__st__._

Heavy snow… Wait! This is… _That _day…

I collapsed at the realization, only then I saw what my legs looked like. They were shorter. Noticing that, I brought my hands up to my face, and they've gotten a bit chunkier than my usual self.

My eyes widened with fear, and started a full out sprint towards the stone stairs to escape the result waiting for me. Too late. A large shadow of a man appeared suddenly in front of me. A second chill ran up my spine, and gained a bolt of adrenaline to find safety back at the beach.

Big mistake.

As I turned, I felt a strong grip clawing my shoulder, and false-stepped myself down the stairs, collapsing face-first to the snow. My face stung from the snow at impact, a mixture of icy burns and the warm pants from my mouth freezing my face and melting the snow left at the same time. Despite this, I pushed myself upwards and ran out to the docks, but before I made it to the wooded boards, I felt him grab my arm, yanking me back down into the snow.

I miscalculated. What was I thinking? He had the advantage of speed and strength, there was no way I truly could outrun him, right?

Knowing my thoughts to be true, a third chill shivered its way up and freezing all of my body functions as fear engulfed me. Nevertheless, I tried out of self satisfaction to squirm out of his grasp, but the more I did so, the tighter his death grip on me became. My arm that he grabbed started to turn numb, feeling like all circulation of blood to it has cutted off abruptly.

I wanted to scream, yell for help like the useless girl I was, and I decided to humor myself. I screamed. I yelled. I wanted Mark to come and save me like he did way back then. I wanted Rick, the man who pitied me and cared for me, to teach this jerk a lesson. Even Kai, even if he was a jerk face, he wouldn't stand by if a young lady is in trouble, right? But my shouts were in vain as no one came. Yet, this jackass thought that it was best to shut me up, and avoid all troubling possibilities.

His other hand covered my mouth to silence me. Even though I knew of the consequences, I still feared for my life. This fear is what caused the tears I locked away to start coming out. Large penny sized tears started to fall, cutting off from my face to the man's hand that was covering my mouth.

Why won't he let me go? What happened to him? What happened to the boy that I found refuge in? The one that I loved for his kindness. The one that made me laugh and always drew the smiles out of me? Why? Why… Why! Why does this make me angry?

He is nothing but a parasite! Being kind, harmless, and start with his true nature. The first time I asked him out, it was beautiful to me, but all I did was take the bait. First the kisses, then his unusual dog-like instincts, that disgusting mouth of his, the sickening words that spew out of that cursed mouth! I knew it! And I asked for it to be over, but he won't let it go! Why can't he just hook up another girl that's a bit more willing for him? He made me feel dirtied, tainted, without even getting close to my virginity!

That's it. He was the reason why this all happened! I'm going to get payback and force him out of my life!

My eyes blazed in fury. This new look of mine took him for surprise, and I used the moment to bite down as hard as I can in his hand covering my face. As the taste of rust splashed into my mouth, I stared triumphantly at him as he threw his hand back in pain. My pride was then thrown right back at me, and felt a hard slap across my cheek, forcing my head to thrust back from the impact. Anger took over again, and I grabbed the hand that is gripping my arm and clawed my nails into it as hard as I could. He jumped back again, cradling his injured hands. Seeing him distracted, I ran as hard as I could towards the stairs once more, and escaped to return back to my haven, the house with Mark. Then, I woke up.

I jolted up from my bed, gasps emitting from shock. I took a look outside to see that it was still night time. I then looked at my clock to check the time.

_1:02 am._

It was late, and that dream truly felt like it was real. My breathing was heavy like I was really fighting and running for a good mile. I should feel good that I beated him, but was lead by only a dream, so it felt like I didn't succeed in anything. I then started to get scared. I involuntarily shiver in remembrance of his cold hands, his hands that scared me so much. It was then that I remembered that I was in my own house again, and Wolf Fang was there who whined in worry for me. He padded up to me and moved his head up to my hand, trying to comfort me.

I was truly terrified from that horrid past. I hugged myself to warm up my body, so that his cold touch was forgotten. Wolf Fang's eyes gained a depressed glaze for his owner, and wrapped his body around mine and placed his head next to mine, waiting for me to fall asleep again then sleep himself. I gave a small smile of reassurance, but it seems that not even my dog bought it. Wolf Fang soon left, and took my ipod out of my rucksack. My dog, Wolf Fang, was truly an amazing dog. He knows just what to do to cheer me up.

Music sometimes help me to relax, I turn it on and played one of my favorite songs. Mello Melody. It wasn't until twenty minutes later that I finally fell asleep that night, for that I still feared my future for myself and others.

I gave a small prayer to the goddess to make this year a safe one. Please.

* * *

BSS: Sorry guys, Chelsea is tired, and I'm… alone… again… O.O Well~ I guess I'll see you guys again when the next revision is up. I'm still very very very very very sorry that revisions are being made for this story! Please, please, please, PLEASE I ask you to forgive my stupidity!


	10. Chapter 10 Help part one

BSS: I'm so sorry for no updates and revisions! Besides, if you guys even care cause my writing still sucks as ever, I want you guys to stay till the end! PLEASE!

Chelsea: Whining is not going to help anyone you know.

BSS: Says you! Do we remember what the last chapter was like? Or should I explain it in front of everyone, including Sabrina, Julia, and_ Vaughn?_

Chelsea: *sweat* As if I care! … I think…

BSS: Oh! Look, we ran out of time, to the story! I own nothing, and do hope you enjoy! ... But I do own this story though!

* * *

Chapter 10- Help: part one-

* * *

Chelsea's POV-

I woke up to the sound of music coming from my ipod. I must've forgotten to turn it off when I fell asleep… I removed the earphones from my pained head. That was the first in a long time since I ever cried out of fear. Then I saw Wolf Fang on my side fast asleep. He must've been restless, with his usually strong and good willed owner all of the sudden waking up and crying in the middle of the night.

I left him to sleep, and carefully got out of bed, but once I got off, my head got really dizzy, but I shook it off. A shiver traveled through me, and I closed the window, where it really was open all last night… Oh well…

The final day of winter… I really got to cheer up! I slapped on my cheeks with my hands, and plastered on a smile. It's the New Years Eve festival today! And everybody will be worried when their only hope of payments is depressed!

I quickly changed into my same work T-shirt, and red boots. I put on light sweats, and a light winter coat, remembering that Taro's trick knee tells him that it'll be clear with the sun out ready to melt the snow today.

Heh, funny. It's odd that Taro can tell the weather so accurately with hunches coming from his body parts, and occasionally the breeze. I looked at the clock.

_9:07am_

AHH! WAIT! I woke up this late? Geez... must've been a long night. I guess that dream was that bad, but it's funny that you somehow forget what the dream feels like once you wake up, and yet the winter air and the cold hands are too familiar. That cold feeling just surrounds me.

Well I still have lots of time before the festival starts at 6'o clock. I just need to finish my daily animal chores, and I'll be on my way.

I ran out of my house and closed the door carefully so that I don't wake up Wolf Fang. I quickly ran to my stable, and once I entered, I was greeted by an excited horse. Knight, my horse, has been with me for a while, before I even got a chicken! Back at home, Mark had two horses. I raised one myself, while Mark raised the other. Now my horse, Knight, is with me on the island when I heard that this place has a free stable. He's the only connection I have of home now.

That's kinda weird though. I love Knight, but Wolf Fang was the one who always comfort me… And I just met him at the beginning of this winter. Wolf Fang reminds me of a lot of my brother, a gentle guardian. They both can be fierce and protective, but also kind and collected. I lightly smiled at the comparison. I finally came back in the real world when Knight gave a soft huff. I laughed lightly and finished my work there. Now I made my way to my barn.

Once I entered the barn, loud "moos" and "bah" welcomed me. My two cows and three sheep came up to me eagerly for their daily treatment. My first and prized cow, Soft Echo, calmly came up to welcome me. I got her a few months ago, and she has a very calm personality, and won the cow festival in her first try!

My second cow, who had just matured, gave a light bump to my shoulder in affection. Her name is Bright Path. She has a great amount of energy, and when I'm down, she is always the first to notice, and I found her as a strong animal of hope.

Now all of my sheep came up, well, one sheep and two lambs. The grown sheep gave a light "bah" while the two lambs followed their mother, Light Cloud. Having two kids must be tiresome of her; well it was mostly my fault that, that happened anyway. I accidentally gave her sheep miracle potion, mistaking it as medicine; thank goddess that it was solved with no problems. And then the second time was when Light Cloud rummaged through my rucksack and found another one of those when it was meant as a gift for Mark. Boy, was that troublesome…

Now for the two lambs. One of them, the one that was a little taller, came half-a-year ago. She had bright sky blue eyes and every now and then looks out the window and look at the sky, in which came to her name, Seeker. She is nearing to an adult and then I'll have to work harder if she was going to win in any contests.

Then there is the shorter one, she was just born about a week ago. Her name is melody, because every time I sing her a song, she would either "bah" softly along, or listen intently, in awe. After a little while I soon finished and bid farewell to my dear animals.

Soon I came by my chicken coop. Then in a rampage came out three chickens trying to topple me over to get some food. Jackie, Tom, and Fred, that's their names and all of them, are girls too! Sabrina was the one who named them, and yet those names seem fitting. They were all brought in on the same day, and from the same batch of eggs. So being triplets, Sabrina thought that they should all have guy names… Different huh?

As soon as I finished, I checked my small wristwatch to tell the time.

_5:42 pm._

I held a blank face for about ten seconds, and then blew out in full fledged panic. I'm going to be late! I need to hurry up and go! Why am I still standing here? ARGG!

I was in a full run, thankful for the fact that I took track in high school. I dashed my way to the meadow. I quickly dodged through the obstacles in my way, and made it to the entrance of the meadow. Another dizzy spell came to my head, must've gotten to me since I was running around in the cold, but I soon shook it off again. I quickly checked my watch if I made it in time.

_5:58_

I gave a small prayer of thanks to the goddess for letting me get here on time. I wasn't ready for Sabrina asking me why I'm late. There is no way that I'm going to tell her that I overslept because of a bad dream of the past. She doesn't even know about my past. Only Wolf Fang knows when I needed someone to tell it to, you know, to get it off your chest and stuff. And Wolf Fang couldn't tell anyone, even if he wanted to.

"Hey Chels~! You almost didn't make it! Well it doesn't matter now since you're here, because I need to tell you something important!" I jumped when Sabrina suddenly called my name. Recalling to her last sentence, I became curious and a little nervous when Sabrina held a mischievous smile.

I had a feeling that this is going to involve Vaughn. I'm starting to feel bad for that guy. This happened to me on a regular basis, but Vaughn got trapped in a closet on his first day here! He hardly knows me or Sabrina; I don't see how Sabrina is going to get him interested in me when we hardly know anything about each other. We said nothing when we were stuck in the closet, heck all we know about each other is that we have a short fuse and our names! Nevertheless I decided to listen to what Sabrina needed to say.

"Guess what!" Sabrina rhetorically asked.

"What?" I asked with absolutely no interest.

"You know your birthday right?"

"Yeah?" I replied.

"Well… to tell you the truth. When we locked you inside of that closet, I was going to give an emerald to Julia, but Julia said that she doesn't need it anymore when she found out that Vaughn has to make a trip to another island." Sabrina explained.

"And what about it?" I asked, having absolutely no idea on where this was going.

"Well, you see… The island is called Waffle Island." '_Waffle Island_' now where does that sound familiar? "That's when I heard that a cousin of yours live there." Sabrina continued.

That's when it clicked in my head.

"Cousin? Then that means that _she_ is there!" I blurted out.

"Yes! Well Julia blackmailed Vaughn to take all three of us there with him, and Julia called your cousin to make plans when we get there." Sabrina announced excitedly.

Wait. _Blackmail?_

"Hey Sabrina! What do you mean by 'Blackmail'? What did you guys do?" I demanded.

"Well… I wouldn't exactly say blackmail… More like threaten."

"WHAT? Threaten? What did you guys do?" I shouted in amazement that Sabrina and Julia would go so far.

"Okay, okay now. We only told him that we'll lock him somewhere again, and this time, in your house~." Sabrina explained with a proud look.

"What? Why make me suffer too?" I asked Sabrina.

"Hey! Forget about it now! Vaughn already agreed to the demands!"

"What is the reason for Julia to go on that island?" I asked in pure curiosity.

"Julia needed new clothes and made an appointment with Luna and her older sister Candace so that they can make custom clothes. We have to be there on a certain time too. We gotta be at the dock on the day after Vaughn's birthday, 9 am sharp." Sabrina also seemed confused on why Julia needed to go so far away to just order clothes.

Wait. Did I hear "The day after Vaughn's birthday"? When's that? Oh well, I'll figure it out tomorrow, our conversation is taking place at a festival after all.

"Alright then, I suppose that I don't have much of a choice in this anyways" I sighed.

Once we finished our conversation, Chen gave the announcement and the festival started once people started lining up to the table for their buckwheat noodles. I must say, for just a shop owner, his cooking is really tasty.

After getting my fill, I noticed something out of the corner of my eye. A dark shady character appeared, leaning beside a tree. I eyes widened when the similarities of the past and now came by my eyes.

I suddenly felt a slight chill against my spine, and felt it spreading through my arms. I gave in to a cold sweat, and my heart started drumming with a heavy thump. My face soon felt warm despite the winter air. I started to tear up in fear again. My vision also started to haze up from the warmth coming straight to my head. I then started clawing my nails into my upper left arm, trying to get rid of the cold chill stuck in there. I slowly closed my eyes and gave a deep breath, counting to ten.

'_He's not here anymore. He will never bother you again' my hater side tried to calm me. 'That's right. Take another deep breath and recollect yourself. Think logically and remember that you're still in a festival, and other people are around too. They'll get worried, so take it easy.' My fluff side tried to encourage me._

That's right. Calm down. Calm down. Calm down!

It wasn't good enough. I let my hand go furious on my left arm, making the pain of it relieve me. After relieving the tension through my nails, I realized that I clawed my nails in deeper than I thought. I looked over to my left shoulder, and found small traces of blood starting to bleed trough my jacket. I looked over my right hand and noticed traces of blood and scratched off skin under my nails.

I gained a look of fear when I had noticed what I've done. My sapphire eyes rose to a light sky blue, cold with complete fear, but not for my condition, but for the questions of what the islanders will ask once they notice. The wound was too noticeable now, when a large spot of scarlet had replaced the few dots of red. I covered that spot with my right hand, but to cover the figure of a girl clutching her arm in pain, I slowly raised my left hand to my other arm, to make a look like I was cold, cursing at my easy-tear white jacket in the process.

My left arm screamed in burning pain, protesting on the forced movement of it. I came into another dizzy spell, feeling like I going to fall over and faint. I slowly approached Sabrina, hoping that I'm not giving anything away to my pain. I gave a small prayer to the Goddess that my face doesn't look pained, and my movements aren't too obvious.

"Hey Sabrina. I'm getting kinda cold, and the festival is almost over. I need to get back home; I still got a rambunctious dog to take care of." I said with a large smile. Sabrina gave a small nod, busy playing with Charlie and Eliza. I gave out a large breath of relief once I got out of there.

I started making my way to my house, but before I even close, another dizzy spell took me again. I looked up and noticed the animal shop nearby; I slowly walked up there, and leaned against the wall. My head now feeling hot, even with the late winter air, started getting warmer, if that was possible. I pressed my forehead against the wooden wall, relieved of a cool resource for my headache, but soon got warmed up again. I fell down to my knees, feeling pain all over my body. My legs feel weak, and my arms went limp, the injured one bleeding excessively. Not being able to take much more, I soon toppled over, my breathing got heavy, fighting for air, and panting from the earlier run.

Soon I noticed a shape of a person nearby, but my vision was blurred, so I couldn't identify the person. My hearing was also blocked, when I heard shouts at me, but I couldn't make out what it was saying at all. That's when my world became black.

* * *

BSS: hmm… Do I seem cold to you guys? And Again! I'm alone in our little show… Just to let you guys know, NO, Chelsea is not emo, just releases her anger with pain… like a stress reliever… okay? Besides, she didn't notice when the wounds got too deep… I hope this cleared up some confusion… And I hope to see you in the next revision!


	11. Chapter 11 Help part two

Sry about the last update. My brain had a long pause on what to type about. I hope you like it so far. Oh! And Special thanks to my reviewers! Jimy and Steph the book lovers; geckofan1; vicky271; mandapanda84; and Belphegor and Rasiel. Thank you guys for being my first reviewers! I hope you guys stick around for the rest of my stories! ^w^

Here's Chapter 11!

Enjoy~

* * *

Chapter 11- Help part two:

* * *

Vaughn's pov-

I was forced down to this pointless festival, after being threatened by the Devil's little helpers. (Julia and Sabrina) I kept a bored look the whole time at the festival, heck I didn't do anything. I was so that irritated that all I did was standing by a tree the whole time, trying to just enjoy the scenery.

I didn't want to be in charge of taking care of a bunch of girls. There's a reason other than work that I'm only on the island for two days a week. I don't need anymore distractions in my life; I got the boss for that when he plans my day offs. I rather work on holidays than spend "Quality time" with Julia and her bothersome friends. One thing though, there's one thing, or rather person, that I don't understand. I know enough about Julia and her friends, but there's one who seems ignorant, dense too, that I have little understanding of.

Chelsea… that was her name, right?

She seems different, much more different from the rest. Other than Julia and Sabrina, Chelsea doesn't seem to be very open like other girls. Other girls wouldn't think twice about what telling what's on their minds. I mean, Chelsea has a short fuse, but she seems to never talk about her problems, sure complain, but never talks about anything freely. Other times, she seems to be depressed, but I don't understand why though…

_Why Do I Care?_ I asked myself when I noticed what I had just thought. I must admit though, she is very different from the other girls Julia tried to hook me up with. _And Why Do I Still Care?_

I leaned back onto the tree in frustration. I'm not myself today, probably from all the trouble those two caused. I closed my eyes, enjoying the winter breeze when I felt a pair of eyes on me. I opened one eye to see who it is. That's when I made contact to a pair of Sapphire orbs.

_Chelsea?_

That's when I noticed that she seemed troubled. Her eyes were so wide that you can see her whites as clear as day. That's also when I noticed her right hand holding on tightly to her left upper arm. Her nails were digging into her arm, and you can clearly see that small bits of blood started dropping onto the pure white ground, causing a bright scarlet colored spot on the snow. My eyes followed back to her face, and that's when her eyes seem to brighten in shock, probably noticing her arm.

Chelsea carried a scared look, and covered that spot with her right arm; she then paused for a brief moment. She then slowly lifted her left arm. Wincing from pain, she covered the right upper arm too, making a look like she was cold. Chelsea then plastered on a smile that could probably fool anyone, and then made her way to Sabrina. A short conversation seemed to have passed between them, and with a nod from Sabrina, Chelsea left the meadow.

I made my way to Sabrina, purely curious on what Chelsea had asked her.

"Sabrina. What's with Chelsea?" I curtly asked, keeping it short and to the point.

"Oohh~ Curious aren't we?" Sabrina singed in a mischievous matter. Wrong person to come to. "Just answer, Julia wants to know." I stated. "Awwwww~ That's boring. Chelsea got cold and needed to get back home to her dog." Sabrina answered with a pout. I was glad that I got through this without having Sabrina on my case, just hope that she doesn't report to Julia for this.

I slowly walked away to the direction of where Chelsea was heading. Luckily, for me, a small trail of a few tiny red dots showed me exactly where she was going. I still question though, why did she claw herself, and why did she left, and stare at me like that… Why do I still care? I asked myself.

After following the trail out of East town, I noticed that the blood trail soon got larger, right to the point where there was a small pool of blood right in front of me. I then looked up. There she was. Chelsea was on the ground right by the Animal Shop. I ran over to her.

"Chelsea? What the-…" I stopped and noticed that Chelsea's arm was a bloody mess, and her breathing came down into short pants. I dropped down to her height and placed my hands on her forehead and neck.

She was burning up.

Man, this was the kind of thing that I warned her about! Her wound on her arm was getting worse, so I took off my white bandana and wrapped it around her wound tightly to seal it for a while.

I checked my pockets to see if I had the keys to the Animal Shop, but to my "luck" they were gone. I must've left them when Julia and Sabrina rushed me to that goddamned festival! I scratched my head in frustration.

That's when I noticed a small key inside of Chelsea's breast pocket. That must be the key to her house, which also means that she locked it too… My face started to heat up thinking about having to take the key out of it. Due to having a zipper pocket, the key won't come out very easily, that's what got me down.

I picked her up bridal style, having no choice since her arm is injured. I made my way to her ranch. I placed her upright to her house and obviously having no choice but to take that key out of her pocket.

Knowing that I can't take her jacket off due to her injury, I made my way to her pocket. My hand dug in the pocket and after about two minutes, because her pockets are very small, I finally got my hands on her house key. My face felt burning for the fact that I had to do that, but this woman gave me no choice!

I unlocked the door, and carried the trouble making girl into her house, that's when I almost got jumped. Her dog, I'm assuming, jumped up and barked angrily at me. He was probably thinking that I was the one who caused this gash on her arm. The dog was a Siberian Husky, and a vicious one at that. The dog bared his fangs at me, trying to threaten me, but hesitated since I was carrying his owner. I sighed irritation, and slowly walked to her bed and placed her there. The dog then growled at me some more, still confused as to why a man he's never seem before is carrying his owner that's in a bloody mess to her house and on her bed. I just ignored the dog, since that my only objective is to take care of Chelsea.

I found a rag and dipped it in ice water. I then came over to Chelsea, and removed my bandanna and her jacket to take closer inspection of the wound. The injury was large, but shallow. This can take care of itself when cleaned and wrapped up. She'll live.

After placing the cold rag on her forehead, I went around looking for her first aid kit. A few minutes passed by, and I finally found the kit inside of her bathroom cabinet. I opened it and found bandages and the alcohol for the scratches. After getting what I needed, I made my way back to her bedroom to start treating her wound.

The dog seemed intent on my work, and before I knew it, the dog left and found some medicine for her fever. I was slightly impressed at the dog's intelligence. I petted his head when I retrieved the medicine from him. My intention turned back on Chelsea's condition. I rubbed the alcohol on her wound; Chelsea slightly flinched from the sting, but soon came back to her deep sleep. Once I finished bandaging her wound, I left to her kitchen to make her something to eat once she wakes up.

* * *

Chelsea's pov-

I was faintly aware of the figure before me, I was on my bed, and whoever it was must've carried me here. I sat up and a rag fell from my forehead. Then my head started to hurt again. I held my head in my hands to stop the throbbing, and waited for a few minutes to cool it down.

I slowly got off my bed, and noticed barking coming from my kitchen, making it's way to my bedroom. Wolf Fang charged through my door, and barked at me, by the sound of it, Wolf Fang is trying to stop me from getting up. That's when I noticed a person walking through my door. It was Vaughn.

His hat was off and sleeves were rolled up, and from the smell of it, he was cooking.

"So you're up. Go change. You need to eat and take your medicine." Vaughn curtly ordered. After understanding what he told me, I slowly made my way to my bathroom and picked up my gown. I took everything off, and changed into my light black gown. A simple spaghetti strap, light weighted dress was slipped on, and from the way it was made, my shape was hidden from under it.

I was never a fan of clothes that shows your shape, so my clothes were always spacey or light. I felt much lighter, and then I removed my bandanna and tied it around my neck, that's when I noticed a bandage around my left arm where my scratches were. It seemed that my small scratches made a mess on my arm, but now the blood was cleaned off and now it was nice and neat.

I exited my bathroom and entered my kitchen. Vaughn was there serving some food he finished cooking. The food was porridge, and that was one of my favorites. It was simple and comforting, which was my favorite feeling. I lightly smiled in remembrance of the plain, but detectable taste.

"Eat and take your medicine. After that, you better get some rest; you've caught a cold so you gotta take it easy, alright?" Vaughn instructed. I gave a curt nod, and sat down eating the porridge. After I finished, I noticed Vaughn's bandanna was covered in blood, the color no longer white anymore.

"Your bandanna…" I murmured. "I needed to cover your wound, so I used my bandanna." Vaughn answered. I took my pill for the medicine, and then I took his bandanna. Before Vaughn started to protest, I got to him first.

"Please! Let me wash your bandanna for you. As payment for this, I'll get it back to you in a few days." I pleaded.

Vaughn kept quiet, but gave a small nod, and what it seems like… a smile? Vaughn's lips were actually curled upward a tiny bit! My eyes widened in complete surprise. Vaughn was actually smiling!

"Uhh... you… are… new… why… the…" I said one word every thirty seconds, pointing at his face when I was still in complete shock. Vaughn's smile soon dropped completely into a frown. "Aww. It's gone already." I whispered. I stared at his face intently, and then Vaughn leaned back from my stare, with a slight tint of red on his cheeks, though I misunderstood the action.

"Vaughn! Are you sick too?" I asked in worry. I placed my hand on his forehead, and his face seemed to have gone to a brighter shade of red.

"I'm not sick! Anyways I need to get back to the Animal Shop, and get ready to get back to the city." Vaughn said in a hurry, and after that, he left. I gave an amused smile from his reaction. I took a look at the bloodied bandanna, looks like I have a lot of work to do.

* * *

Sabrina's pov-

Once Vaughn left the meadow, I decided to follow him, just to see where he's going after asking a question about where Chelsea was. I followed him, and from the looks of it, Vaughn was too busy following a red trail to notice me following him, of course, that's when I noticed the whole scene. I was worried about Chelsea when I saw her state, but when Vaughn actually came up to her and picked her up, it felt like that she'll be just fine. I soon followed them to Chelsea's house and looked through the window of the house.

Did I see what I just thought I saw? Vaughn and Chelsea actually bonded? And Vaughn gave a smile nonetheless! I can't wait to tell this to Julia! But who knew Vaughn was so bold to take Chel's key like that! Looks like my job is finally starting to get somewhere! This is going to be fun!

An evil smirk came to my face. I walked away from the lovely scene to tell Julia about our plan. We better keep a little low about this, and let's not bug or interfere… yet.

* * *

I wonder when Chelsea is going to find out Vaughn's Birthday, and what's the reason to go to Waffle Island... Stay tuned to find out! ^_^


	12. Chapter 12 Gift

BSS: Okay! To those that are still reading this horrid story of mine, I thank you soooooo very much! And I'm sorry if I'm not very good at these romance things, I'm not known to be very romantic to my friends… More like hateful, mean, and irritating. Yeah… Kinda like Chelsea here.

Chelsea: What are you talking about? Online, you're nothing like me! You act more like an otaku right now!

BSS: Ehhh? Really? I'm no otaku! Really, you should tell my friends that!

Chelsea: Tch. Forget it! It's too troubling to talk to you when you're like this!

BSS: Don't you pull a 'Vaughn' on me!

Chelsea: Just move onto the story! Otaku girl owns nothing but this story, and all of 'us' are owned by Natsume. Go, go, to the story!

* * *

Chapter 12- Gift-

* * *

Chelsea's POV-

I felt warm sunshine on my face. My eyes slowly opened, only seeing the bright sun. I quickly sat up in realization. My fever, My injured arm, … Vaughn helping me and coming over… My right hand instinctively went up to my left arm, and felt the gauze tied tightly around it. That's when I also remembered about the white bandanna. I was just about to get off of my bed, until I noticed something weighing me down.

My eyes moved to the area where the weight was on. Wolf Fang was there, and Vaughn's white bandanna was tied with his black one around his neck, completely clean too. That's when it hit me. I washed it last night, and pretty much stayed up all night to get the stupid thing clean, geez… what's with me and the urging influence to finish things once I start them…?

I took off the white bandanna from Wolf Fang's neck, and placed it inside of the washing machine once more in case of any small traces of blood was still on it. While the gentle "whirring" sounds echoed through the house, I placed my hand on my forehead to check my own temperature. My fever seems to have finally passed. I lightly smiled to this result, and got myself ready for the new beginning, on the 2nd day of spring! Yesterday was a holiday, and because of my injuries, I slept right through it…

I quickly replaced my night gown with my usual work clothes and my trusty bandanna, making sure that my clothes covered the gauze so that questions won't be popping out. I opened my tool box and took out the seeds I was saving for this day. I placed them inside of my rucksack. That's when I remembered what Vaughn said about my arm.

"_Your arm should heal, but only if you let it rest."_

I gave a pause, unsure if I can do my farm work with it. I carefully placed my hand over the injury, taking Vaughn's words into consideration.

'_Hey! Who else do you think will work on the farm if you can't do anything? Natalie and Elliot are really busy today because of the large shipping day a few days ago!' _A smaller Chelsea wearing a black T-shirt, a studded jacket, black boot-cut jeans, and jet black platform shoes gave her rant. (This is the first description of Hater Chelsea)

'_But if you do that, Vaughn's efforts will go to waste, and get everyone worried if your arm gets worse!' _Another smaller Chelsea wearing a light white dress, a light pink see-through scarf wrapped around her upper arms trailing down to her forearms, and pure white, low-heeled shoes reasoned. (Fluff/Angel Chelsea)

The two went at it for a while, and I just blocked them out. Knowing that the island trusts me with the work, I just can't miss a day no matter what. This injury was my fault anyways, and I still have many responsibilities to do, so I'll just live with the pain till then.

I moved toward my tool box and took out all of my tool and seeds that I saved for just this season. I left and took care of my animals, and soon planted 2 strawberry patches, 4 cabbage patches, 1 cucumber patch, and 5 potato patches. After I watered all of them, I made my way down to the animal shop for more food for my dog.

As I walked down the nice brick path, I noticed Natalie and Elliot carrying some large boxes, and gave some waves of hello to the siblings. Seeing that Julia just 'happened' to be with Elliot, I walked over to her to tell her about my dog's food shortage, and something that I needed to get straight.

"Hey Julia and her _little other_!" I said energetically with a mocking impression at the end. From what I just said, the couple blushed heavily in reaction.

"H-hi Chelsea." Julia was absolutely fluttered.

"Umm… I still have some work to do so I'll be going…" Elliot stuttered his sentence with a deeper shade of red on his face; he then turned around and walked back to his house.

I decided to get my question out of the way.

"Hey Julia. I got a question." Julia tilted her head in signal for me to go on. "You did say that the visit there is the day after Vaughn's birthday, right?" Julia nodded. "Right. When is Vaughn's birthday?" Right after that sentence, Julia gave a sly smile. I gave into a cold sweat.

"Ooohhh~. So you want to know~?" Julia asked in a devilish tone. I quickly denied on her thoughts.

"H-h-h-hey! I-it's not f-for what y-you t-think it's for!" I cleared my throat. "I just need to know when it is so that I could get prepared for the trip to Waffle Island!"

"Then why didn't you ask when will the trip to the island will be? You asked when Vaughn's birthday is!" I slightly blushed from her counter argument, but fought it down and stood my ground.

"J-just tell me already!" I stuttered; trying my best to not put a snide remark in that sentence for fear that she won't tell me.

"Tomorrow." Julia answered.

…

"Huh?" I questioned, wanting her to say it again.

"I said that his birthday is on the 3rd! Which means TOMORROW!" Julia yelled in my ear, making sure that I get it this time. My finger went in my ear making sure that I didn't go deaf there.

"Okay! Okay! I can hear you!" I yelled angrily.

"Oh! By the way! If you want to get Vaughn something, he likes milk and sweets! Just in case!" Julia singed in a sinful way. I scoffed.

"Heh! Like I'll get anything for that jerk!" I sneered.

'_Hey, hey. Don't you owe him? He did practically save your life yesterday, right?' _Fluff Chelsea scolded.

'_Heh! Like hell I'll give him something! That jerk face scared me on the first day I met him, and every time I tried to be nice for once in my life and tell him about the other evil deeds that my 'friends' do, he either ignores me, or calls me a distraction! I would've woken up sooner or later…' _Hater Chelsea countered angrily.

'_It doesn't matter! You still owe him nevertheless! Besides, you own him big time if you're doing work with an arm like that! You got to pay him back since all of his work went to waste. Get off of your lazy ass, and get him a present! It's his birthday tomorrow too!' _Fluff Chelsea gave off a guilt vibe.

I soon gave in the Fluffy me, as her explanation was too good. I held my head in my hands, since my head started hurting from fighting with myself. I opened my eyes, and noticed that Julia was still looking expecting an answer.

"Fine." I sighed in defeat. After Julia gave a huff of satisfaction, I remembered the real reason on why I came here.

"Hey Julia, can I get some dog food? I'm running a little low." Julia gave a nod, and made her way to the Animal shop. Julia walked behind the counter and opened the storage closet.

"How many do you need?" Julia shouted from the distance.

"Five!" I shouted back. Just then I heard the barn door open. Out came Vaughn. Great! The last person I need to see! Wait. Why is he here? Yesterday was a holiday, so I understand that, but today wasn't, it was Monday… so he shouldn't be back until tomorrow… But he was leaving again on Thursday? I'm confused.

"Why are you here?" I asked absentmindedly. Vaughn raised an eyebrow, clearly annoyed. Then like he understood what I was thinking, he sighed.

"My schedule is a little mixed up, so I have to leave on Thursday to make up for the holiday." Vaughn explained. I gave a small "oh." I kept waiting for my dog food supply. After a while, an awkward silence formed. I started fidgeting in this odd air, and Vaughn seems to have noticed this odd silence as well. He started messing with the tip of his hat, trying to ignore the atmosphere. Just before I was about to lose it, Julia finally came out.

* * *

Julia's POV-

"Phew! That's a lot of dog food! Sorry it took me a while to drag it all up here." I huffed, bringing the last bag with me. "What's up?" I asked, questioning the odd air between the two. Just then, an idea popped inside of my head. I tried to hide my smirk, and made myself as innocent as possible.

"Hey Vaughn? Why don't you help Chelsea out with some of the bags? This is a lot of dog food, heavy too. That way, Chelsea won't have to make many trips. The most she can carry is only about two bags anyways." I suggested with an absolutely clueless voice, hoping that they will buy it, but from the way Vaughn's forehead gained a popped vein, he didn't buy it. To my surprise though, he accepted.

"Fine. I'll grab three, and you get two, alright." Vaughn quickly stated. He picked up three bags like they were nothing, and from the looks of it, Chelsea struggled to carry two, she looked pretty pissed at the difference between their strength. But really. This is new for Vaughn; usually he just flat out says 'no', I had to cover my mouth to hide the evil smile that was coming up.

What's this?

Vaughn seems to be showing interest with her, as his cousin, I know. Vaughn came down and picked up a bag from Chelsea, so that she only had to carry one. This is completely new! Vaughn showing acts of kindness? What's next? Pierre becoming a five foot tall guy? After a little, they finally left with the bags in their hands, and me, making my way to Sabrina's mansion. She has got to know about this. We need to make a few more adjustments on our plan for our Waffle Island meeting. I need to contact Chelsea's cousin too…

* * *

Chelsea's POV-

I ended up carrying only one bag, with still having a bit of trouble, while the six foot tall man can easily carry four of those bags. I was still pissed after discovering that Vaughn is that much stronger than me, but was dragged back to the fact that he was a bit out of character for helping me. Maybe I really should get him something on his birthday… He was kind **enough** to help me with the bags; I wonder what I should get him…

While I was daydreaming, we already got to my ranch. I was brought back to earth once Vaughn spoke.

"Where do you need these bags?" he questioned.

"Oh! Just bring it in the stable." I answered. He walked to the stable to drop off his delivery. I took my bag to my house to prepare for the next needed supply. I opened my kitchen counter and pushed the bag inside. I walked out of my house, and decided to go thank Vaughn, for that he helped me when he didn't have to.

When I opened the stable, I quickly stopped. Vaughn was there with my horse knight, and he was quietly petting him. Knight seemed to enjoy it, and nudged his head to Vaughn's hand. Vaughn seemed to be enjoying himself, I'm guessing he finding Knight's company comforting. My eyes slightly widened from the drastic change from his personality. There, Vaughn seems to be more relaxed, and there was his rare small smile that I only got to saw once. I lightly smiled myself, seeing that Vaughn at least has a softer side to him. I decided to make a move now, if I stayed at that position any longer, he'll notice at some point.

"Hey Vaughn." I casually stated, like I just came here. Vaughn's smile dropped, as I expected, and turned around to me. "I just wanted to say thanks for helping me." Vaughn just gave a grunt of acknowledgement and just turned back to my horse. This time Vaughn spoke.

"Your horse is taken care of very well." He praised. My face started to heat up from the unexpected praise.

"T-thanks…" I answered.

Vaughn gave another grunt, and made his way to leave. After he left, I gave a small smile with a light blush. I turned to my horse and petted his muzzle.

"He really is a different guy than others, huh?" I whispered to my horse, a light hearted neigh escaping him.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~**Spring 3rd**~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Chelsea's POV-

I placed the white bandana and the homemade chocolate I made into the small box. I learned how to make chocolate thanks to Sabrina, even though it took me a while to get her to cooperate and to get her to stop asking questions about Vaughn. The chocolate was just simple bit-sized squares, nothing special, Sabrina tried to get me to add some cutesy stuff on it, but this was a guy we were talking about, not a girl. I finished by putting the card on top of the tin foiled wrapped chocolates, and closed the box. Julia did say that he had a sweet tooth, so I hope that this is okay with him.

I couldn't hide the blush that was covering my face; this was the first time that I decided to give a birthday present to a guy. I placed the box in my rucksack and left my house. I made sure to have all of my chores done before I got to the Animal shop. To my 'luck' Julia was there. I held my rucksack closer to myself.

"H-hey Julia, you know where Vaughn is?" I struggled to keep on a straight face. Julia paused with a black face, and stared over my odd and shy-like position. Then right after, Julia gave a light smile.

"He's in his room upstairs." Julia's thumb sticks up and pointed to the stairs. 'Oh, and Chelsea, before you go and do "that"," Julia pointed at my rucksack. "I told Natalie if she and Elliot could help you on your ranch while we're gone, and she said yes, so you have nothing to worry about, okay?" Julia reassured. Yeah, I was worried about that, but that wasn't the main issue for me at this point. I gave a small nod, and made my way up the stairs.

There was Vaughn's door, and I was about ready to knock on it, but paused. I tried again, but another pause stopped me. I couldn't do it! I gave a quiet sigh, and took out the box. I placed the box on the ground, and stood back up. I knocked on the door, and quickly made my way to the stairs. I sat on the top stair and waited, hidden from him. I heard the door open; I peered over the wall covering me. Vaughn looked around for a person nearby, until his eyes went down to the box. Vaughn picked up the box, and opened it without making a sound. My heartbeat strengthened once he took the card.

* * *

Vaughn's POV-

I heard a knock on the door, and made my way to it. I opened the door to find nobody there. Was this a joke from Julia again? I looked around for anybody who was nearby, but didn't see anyone. I looked down and saw a white box. Was this part of the joke or something? Nevertheless, I picked it up, and opened it. Inside I found my white bandanna and something wrapped in tin foil inside of it. A card was put there also. I opened the card to read what it says,

_I heard it was your birthday today, and so since you helped me out a lot, I decided to get you something. I cleaned your bandanna, and decided to make chocolates for you when I heard that you liked sweets, so here you go. This is to say thanks for helping me out, and I hope you enjoy the present._

_Chelsea_

I closed the card and gave a small smile. I took out the bandanna, and noticed that this thing was actually whiter than the day I lend it to her. I tied it around my neck, and took out the tin foiled object. The card mentioned chocolates, so I'm guessing these are the chocolates. I opened the tin foil cover and what it revealed was these little chocolate squares.

Nothing was on them, thankfully. Chelsea must not be the girly type, as most girls would probably put some kind of frosting on it. I took out a piece and put it in my mouth. The taste was very light, the sweetness was like a sugar coating over the chocolate, and once I bit in, the sweetness roamed inside of my mouth, and then it gave off a small bitter after taste. I admit, it really was good.

* * *

Chelsea's POV-

Vaughn put the piece of chocolate inside of his mouth, and he gave a light smile.

"Not bad." He muttered, still eating the chocolate. My face fumed, and was probably looking like a tomato. I quickly left the scene without being seen and made my way to the door, swooping past a smirking Julia. I sprinted out the door, my face still really red, and ran rest the way to my ranch to get ready for the trip.

* * *

BSS: Hey another cute scene! But truthfully, I'm a very good actor, and are sometimes really disgusted of these type of things, and I don't know why! :D

Sabrina: Aww. Don't say that, I'm sure you're really nice in real life!

BSS: hmm, No, not really... just ask my friends.

Sabrina:...

Julia: Umm, Well, I hope you guys come back for the next chapter, in which will be a special little extra edition!


	13. Extra: Sabrina's Chocolate Lesson

BSS: Hey guys! This is an extra chapter, kind of like a special edition, a fun short story! ^^ Hope you enjoy~ Oh, and this might happen every now and then, and when I can't make a whole chapter, a mini episode (I hope) will keep you enjoyed. ^_^

Chelsea: Enjoy this load of bull that I'm going to go though…

* * *

Extra edition- Sabrina's Chocolate Lesson-

* * *

Sabrina's POV-

"Alright, let's begin!" I tied my frilly purple apron over my usual dress and rolled my sleeves up.

"Do I really have to go through all of this trouble? Can't I just buy a chocolate bar from Chen and call it a day?" Chelsea complained when she fiddled with the waist string on her plain yellow apron.

"No! If it's really going to be a present for his birthday, at the very least, it has to be a homemade thing!" Chelsea gave a groan after that.

"Fine, let's just get this over with…"

"Alright! Let's begin!" I gave a fist punch to the air.

I opened the fridge, cabinets, and drawers to take out the ingredients and equipment. As I took out the coffee roaster, I began to place the cocoa beans in them.

"First, we need to roast the cocoa beans. The temperature must stay in between 250 and 325 degrees Fahrenheit for between 5 to 30 minutes. Then-"

"Wait, isn't a 5-30 minute span a bit wide ranged?" Chelsea questioned.

"You didn't let me finish, for about every five minutes or so, on the highest temperature, you've got to gradually lower it and it usually lasts for about 30 minutes. And once you hear cracking from the beans, then they're finished~"

"Oh…"

With Chelsea staring curiously at my actions, I placed about 80 cocoa beans inside of the coffee roaster and let it start. After a while, loud cracking noises came from the coffee roaster and I quickly stopped it. Taking out the cocoa beans, I gave half on Chelsea's plate and the other half on mine.

"Now that the cocoa bean's shells are cracked and soft, we need to start peeling off the husks so that the actual bean portion is showing. This is going to take a while due to the amount of beans, and it's usually a very time consuming process. " I explained.

"Don't worry Sabrina, I've got the whole day." Chelsea replied with a small smile that says: 'not like I have anything else to do'.

I picked up a bean and removed the husk quickly and expertly, placing it on the small bowl in front of my plate. I gave a grin to Chelsea to urge her to try and peel off the husk. She gave and unsure grunt and picked up the cocoa bean carefully. She started fumbling with the skin, using the sharp part of her nail to dig into the shell.

"Ahh… Chelsea, you shouldn't dig into the bean like that, you might break the whole bean itself! Try using your thumb and rub onto the husk for a bit till it softens up, then the husk will easily come off." My hands rose up, prepared to help the frustrated Chelsea as sweat started to form on my forehead.

For the time being, I peeled off all of my husks, the beans smooth and intact, but Chelsea's beans ended up with a few cracks and engravings from her nails. A smile was tugging at my lips, and I tried my best not to laugh at Chelsea's surprisingly bad cooking skills. A sigh of defeat left Chelsea, knowing how bad the beans really did turned out.

"Ah… Don't worry Chelsea, were going to grind them, and as long as the husks are off, it doesn't really matter about the state of the beans itself…"

"It's okay… I know I'm not a very handy person when it comes to food…" she sighed again.

"Well that really was the hard part; everything else will be quick and a little bit easier too." I reassured as I took out a juicer.

"Juicers work well when you have to grind cocoa beans, in fact, it's either that or do it by hand, and that can be a really messy job. Just put it in like so, and start it up!" loud "whir!" sounds came from the juicer, and soon after, turned my half of the cocoa beans into a fine chocolate liqueur.

"There! Chelsea, there's another juicer by you, so it's your turn!" _Even Chelsea can't screw this up, right? _I thought to myself.

She gave a nod and placed her half of the beans into the machine and started it. Unfortunately, my assumption was very wrong as Chelsea pressed the wrong button and put it on overdrive. The juicer's lid popped off and sent small, immature chocolate drops all over the place. Chelsea started to panic, and started to press many buttons to find the off switch, her hand over the top of the juicer to keep from any more chocolate substances from jumping out.

"Ah! Turn the machine off Chelsea! Quick, find the lid!" I ducked for cover and crawled to the direction of where the lid shot off to. Finding the lid, I tossed it to Chelsea who had just found the off switch and caught it, placing it on top of the calm juicer afterwords.

"Ah… that was close…" Chelsea sighed, but my face turned pale when I took a look at the kitchen. Small chocolate splatters everywhere, including us, and a few things turned over from our chaos, and the bowl of peeled husks shavings toppled over, covering the floor.

"Uwah…" I was speechless about the mess, and Chelsea just realized as well when her face also grew pale.

"Sabrina… I'm so sorry…" Chelsea apologized with her head tilted down in shame. "I'll help you clean the whole place up…" A giggle escaped me, a huge smile replacing my look of surprise.

"Haha! Nah! It's alright; I've been meaning to give this place a makeover anyways!" I laughed. Soon, my laugh started to grow out of control and Chelsea joined in as well.

After a few minutes of endless laughing, we just got up and continued our chocolate making, leaving the mess for later. When I took a look at whatever chocolate that was left in the juicer, which was a great sum, it ended up still looking pretty good and usable to make the real chocolate with. We both poured the pre-chocolate into our bowls and mixed in the cocoa butter, and since sweet was what we were going for, sugar and milk as well.

"Start by pouring in little milk and the cocoa butter, and mix well, after both of the ingredients dissolve in the chocolate, we can add more milk and sugar." Chelsea followed with a nod, and at the very least, got this part right.

"Then, layer the chocolate with your whisk, and fold the chocolate continually on itself, the more you do it, the smoother the chocolate will turn out. This will probably take hours considering how smooth milk chocolate has to be…"

After a few hours, Chelsea was groaning as her arm was really tired of continuous mixing, but once we got it done, we let the bowls of chocolate cool down to 90 degrees Fahrenheit and got the molds out for forming.

"So Chelsea, what kind of mold would you like to make for your boyfriend?" I teased, a clear popped vein shown on her forehead.

"First things first, he's not a boyfriend whatsoever, and I'm only doing this to repay him for a favor! And second, none, I don't need a mold cause this is a guy that we're talking about." Chelsea explained.

"But Chels! These molds show how different girls show their personality!" I whined.

"Tch. Fine! I'll pick… This one!" Chelsea picked up a plain square piece. My mouth dropped in disbelief.

"That's too plain! You could at least pick a heart shape-" I got cut off.

"You did say that molds show a girl's personality, and my personality is quite plain, in my opinion, so, this is good enough." She countered. I gave a pout, completely unsatisfied by that explanation.

_Geez. Is it really your personality, or are you just lazy?_

I gave a sigh, going along with it for the time being. I picked up a small heart mold partnered with a larger heart mold. After they were inside of the mold, I started to place some frosting that made the edges look like lace. I was still in the middle of the small heart when Chelsea started to speak.

"Done!" I gave a small jump in surprise, and took a look at her chocolate mold. On then was nothing, and in one pan were about ten chocolate squares, plain, but perfect.

"A-aren't you going to put any frosting on it?"

"But this is a **guy** we're talking about, I'm sure that, by his personality, he won't mind if they're plain, and most likely be disgusted of girly-looking chocolate." Another sigh left me, but knew that once her mind is fixed on something, nothing will change it.

"Fine, fine. Just put yours in the freezer and they'll be ready in a few hours. For now, can you start cleaning up the kitchen; I'll join you in a bit." I sighed.

* * *

In a couple of minutes, I finished my laced frosting on the chocolate and started cleaning up once I placed it inside the freezer. The day soon ended quickly, mostly because of me pestering Chelsea about Vaughn, and spending the whole time cleaning the whole mess of the kitchen.

"Thanks for teaching me on how to make chocolate when it really wasn't necessary…" Chelsea gave an awkwardly scratched the back of her head, the bag with the chocolates in the other hand.

"No prob.! Just remember to tell me his reaction, and details, because I'll be dying to know!" I grinned and waved goodbye as Chelsea gave a light blush and ran back to her home. Heh… She's one lucky girl~

* * *

BSS: Not a new chapter, but an extra edition... Like a mini episode, as said in the beginning... I hope you guys stay for the next revision! O^O"


	14. Chapter 13 Middle of the Journey

BSS: Okay! It has been forever since I wrote anything, and I think I'm a bit rusty on my writing style, so it'll be some time before many of the other chapters will come out, sorry!

Chelsea: I don't see why you're bothering; I was enjoying the break you gave us.

Julia: Come on Chelsea! We need to see your cousin ASAP!

Chelsea: Why?

Sabrina: For personal businesses~

BSS: And that is exactly right! So I don't own anything but this story, and hope you enjoy it, blah, blah, blah, and go!

* * *

Chapter 13- Middle of the Journey-

* * *

Chelsea's POV-

I sighed to myself as I clicked to briefcase closed. Recalling the schedule, I just didn't understand why we needed to leave so early, but knowing those two, they probably want to get there as soon as possible…

With a much needed stretch from the excessive packing, I pulled on my light orange short sleeved jacket over my yellow T-shirt. I then tied my favorite red bandanna on my head. Spring the fourth is here, and I'm ready for whatever the Harvest Goddess is going to throw at me… I hope…

I lifted my light weighted suitcase, and taped the list of things Natalie and Elliot will need to do for my farm. Wolf Fang padded up to me with a whimper. I gave him a reassuring smile.

"Don't worry boy. I'll come back in a few days. While I'm gone, be nice to Natalie and Elliot, alright?" I asked in a light voice, giving him a soft rub on his head. Wolf Fang gave a small bark in understanding, and I gave a grin in response. I opened the door and made my way out down on the clean brick path towards the beach.

"You idiot! Be more careful with those boxes, will you? At this rate, you'll break everything in that box! That's nicely made china you know!" I heard a harsh voice scold.

"S-s-s-sorry!" another voice, a very nervous one, apologized.

"Hey guys! Natalie, Elliot uhh… how are you guys doing?" I tried to lighten up the dark atmosphere. Natalie gave harsh glares at her weak older brother, in which was cowering in return.

"Nothing much." Natalie scoffed, "By the way, right after this we'll come by your farm to do the work."

"Oh. Well, I left a list on what to do on the door, so yeah. And thank you so much for taking care of my farm while I'm gone!" I told with appreciation, and gave a bow.

"Don't worry about it! We're happy to! We're neighbors so it's natural for us to help!" said Elliot with a smile. I smiled back. Despite that I hate guys, Elliot isn't too bad, probably because that I don't really see him as a guy, only Julia will see him as a full male.

"Thanks! Well, bye!" I gave a wave to them as I turned and jogged to the beach. I took a quick look to my watch.

_8:51 am_

I had plenty of time to get there. As soon as my feet felt soft sand, I slowed my jog down to a walk. There was Vaughn sanding on the dock with his arms crossed in annoyance. Julia was by him, giving me a light grin, and Sabrina was right there, a giant smile on her face, and waving at me in complete excitement. I returned the smile, and gave a light wave myself.

"Hey, did you wait long?" I asked as I made my way to the dock.

"Nope! We just got here!" Julia answered.

I looked over to the large sea, my sapphire orbs peered over the horizon, searching for the boat to our stop. Soon, a small dot appeared over the horizon, and there came the boat to our destination.

The boat made its way to the dock and made a full stop. A plank was pulled over the boat to the dock, and one by one everyone got on the boat. The plank was soon removed, and the boat started up to leave. Right before we left, Denny, the fisherman, came out of his house… well I say more of a shack than a house…

Denny saw the departing boat, and took off his purple bandanna, and waved it in the air as goodbye… but from the way he did that, and with that cocky smile of his, it was almost like he was saying goodbye to us forever. Nevertheless, I took off mine, and waved it in return, after that, Denny gave the thumbs up.

"Ooohh~? What's this? Our usual mean Chelsea being nice to a guy?" Julia inquired.

"That's definitely new, isn't it?" Sabrina singed. Veins started forming on the side of my head.

"Okay! So I decided to be in a good mood today, sue me!" I grumbled.

"Hhhmmm… I wonder why? Is it because of yesterday? It was Vaughn's birthday yesterday right? And he gave is oh-so-rare smiles, at you huh?" Sabrina mocked. My face flushed in the remembrance.

"N-n-no! Y-you're wrong!" I denied, but failing horribly.

"But you sure enjoyed it huh?" Julia added. My face became about as red as a tomato, and my hands went up defensively. I paused a bit, trying to think of what to say. The two girls smirked with a devilish motive. Then Vaughn came by.

"Hey you two, go to your rooms. It'll be a while till we get to the island, and I'm sure that the crew members don't need loud people like you on the deck, you're distractions." Vaughn ordered.

My face went blank in complete surprise. The two girls pouted.

"Fine, fine. Let's go Sabrina." Julia announced.

I sighed in relief. I gave Vaughn a thankful smile, in which he gained a light pink hue on the face in response. After the two left, I turned to Vaughn.

"Thanks Vaughn. I owe you one." I muttered, still completely relieved about not having to answer their troublesome questions.

Vaughn gave a grunt in response. I gave a bow, and headed to my room.

The room looked simple, and had all the necessary stuff I need. There was a small bed on the corner, a little porthole on the wall, and a medium sized drawer for my clothes, but since we'll only be here for one day, there won't be much to do. I placed my suitcase on the bed, and made my way back to the deck.

I walked out and came up to the railing. My eyes looked over the horizon, as I smiled in the freedom of the forever blue sea. I closed my eyes, and lifted my head, enjoying the light sea mist sprinkling my face, and the dim sunlight warming my face, it almost felt like I was in heaven.

Heaven… I wonder how my mother and father are doing. I opened my eyes into slim slits, and stared off into the bright spring sky. I hope their well… Mark too. He must be busy as Mineral town's new role model, nothing like I can be there.

The cool breeze lightly lifted my hair, making me feel like I could float off into the sky. Then, all of the sudden, I felt a light push on my shoulder. I gave a jolt in shock, and quickly turned around. The person behind me was Mark. His and my faces were only about an inch apart, and I started to fall backwards over the railing from our close proximity.

"Aaah!" I screamed in shock, and started falling backwards into the deep blue sea. Mark gave a surprised look too, and grabbed for my hand. Mark had a strong grip, and pulled me forwards, too fast it seems, because I soon toppled over him, and both of us fell to the deck with a large "THUMP!" sound. I and my brother, Mark, were tangled together in a complete mess.

"Hey! What's the entire ruckus out here?" Julia complained, and then stopped with a surprised gasp, a devilish smile soon forming. That's what I feared the most, a friend getting the wrong idea.

"Julia?" Sabrina came in soon after, and followed Julia's form of evil. Scratch that, two friends getting the wrong idea.

"Hey, hey, hey! Chelsea, who's this?" Julia purred, making me as scared as ever.

I quickly stood up, still flustered from the near death experience and our small fall, but gained an irritated face, when of all people, they mistake my BROTHER to be my date or something. I then quickly replaced it with an overly sweet smile that clearly states that I'm mad.

"If you must know, this guy is my BR-OTH-ER, and clearly not who and what you think it is." I giggled in a majorly sweet voice, noticing my attitude, Julia casted nervous glances at me and my dark aura, but Sabrina was completely unfazed.

"Tch. And to think that our Chelsea got a decent looking guy…" Sabrina snapped her fingers at the false alarm, "Well anyways, you must be Mark, since Chelsea called you her brother."

Mark then got up abruptly, looking embarrassed from the "little" occurrence. Mark carried a small blush, and scratched the back of his head, giving a broken laugh, completely flustered.

A vein popped on my forehead. I walked up to him, and pulled his cap to my direction. He was dragged down to my height, and I was close enough to whisper in his ear.

"Give it up. The happy-go-lucky one is married, and the model got a boyfriend." I muttered. Mark gave an annoyed look, and a disappointed one after. "You'll find the girl… eventually." I tried to encourage him, but failed.

I had to admit though. Mark is a pretty decent looking guy. I mean not model 'hot' but still good looking, if a sister does say so for herself. Mark gave out his introductions, and soon after I grabbed him by the ear. I dragged him to the doors, and shot out my questions.

"Mark, why are you here? Are you going to visit cousin Akari too?" I interrogated.

"Ouch! Owowowowowow… Easy on the grip will ya?" I let go, and Mark held his ear in pain.

"Well?" I pressed.

"No. I'm actually here to go back home. You see, I already visited Akari, and took the supplies I needed, and was on the way back home now!" Mark moaned.

"Okay! I get the point!" I answered his complaining sounds. Just then I saw a dock with the city up ahead.

"There's my stop! See ya sis!" Mark gave a small hug, and a wave of goodbye. I gave a slight wave back, and carried a distant look. Mark jumped off the boat and ran his whole way down the beach, still waving with that idiot smile of his. Looking at my home, Mineral town, I felt my eyes narrow instinctively as I remembered the past.

"Hey Chels? You okay?" Sabrina asked. I was then knocked back into the present, and gave a goofy smile and a nod. What was I? Ten? Get over it Chels!

"Hey Sabrina I'm bored, can we go play or do something? It's only 11:50 anyways" I asked with a plain face. Sabrina laughed and grabbed my hand and dragged me to her room, there we had some fun with the chess board she brought. Unusually I loved these classic games, like chess and checkers. We had fun all the way till the next day.

* * *

Vaughn's POV-

Who was that with Chelsea just then? He looked like he knew her, and yet why am I irritated? It's not that I cared… right? That guy mind as well be born a girl. His blonde hair and dumb smile says it all about his personality. The 21st century's first simpleton. But why am I so mad?

I walked over to Julia, obviously dumbfounded from what she just saw between the two.

"Hey Julia. Who was that?" I stated. Julia's dumb look vanished, and was replaced with a familiar smirk.

"You want to know?" Julia singed.

"I just asked you simply that now didn't I?" I said in the same monotone voice. Julia gave a small pout.

"Geez, fine. His name is Mark, and he's Chelsea's brother, he lives in the city, and apparently was the one who sent Chelsea to the island.

I let out a small sigh of relief that I didn't know I was holding. Apparently, Julia noticed too, sadly. She regained her smirk and her devilish aura.

"Relieved aren't we? Glad that Mark was only a brother, not a rival?" Julia pried, trying to get any answer out of me, and ready to throw it right back. I let out nothing, and just simply walked away; probably the best thing to do anyways.

"You act too cool. You know that?" Julia pouted. From all of these events before I knew it, I was already in bed. The arrival to the island wasn't scheduled till the next morning anyways.

I still questioned myself though. I still wondered why I cared about this though, Chelsea and Mark I mean. I wonder why I cared about Mark being Chelsea's 'date'. I'm probably thinking too much about this. I then clenched the white bandanna Chelsea washed for me, the scent of her home still on it, and remembered the chocolates she made me. I took the small box from my nightstand, and opened it. I took a small square out, and bit into it. The light sweet taste roamed around my mouth, and was soon replace by a small bitter aftertaste. I lightly smiled from the remembrance of my birthday, and with that, I fell victim to the darkness of sleep.

I woke up to the usual time I do and took a look at my cell phone clock.

_8:20 am._

It was about time for our arrival to the oddly named island. Who does name an island "Waffle Island"? I guessing that the mayor there look as stupid as he is for naming an island that. I grabbed my suitcase, and made my way to the deck.

I walked up the deck to the railing, and noticed someone already there. It was Chelsea.

She seemed to be enjoying the scenery, and looked calm and free in that position. I carefully made my way there, hoping that she doesn't care if I'm there. Chelsea looked over, and gave a wide grin, probably so lost in her own world, and not noticing who she is smiling to, I gave my usual small smile back, but she probably didn't notice.

"There it is!" I heard Chelsea happily shout. She pointed her finger at the island slowly getting larger and closer. Julia and Sabrina came out then, with their cases ready, big smiles plastered on their faces.

There was our stop, and it was time to get ready for probably the worst days of my life.

* * *

BSS: Aw, man! I'm so sorry that it's been forever since i made a revised chapter of this friggn' story! T.T School and my social life (more of the former than the latter) is getting in my way and I just can't seem to write stuff up. I got a snow day luckily, and at least got this in. I hope you guys understand, and stay tuned for the next revision! ^^; *Gasps for air*

Chelsea: Just great. More torturing to go through...


	15. Chapter 14 Arrival

BSS: I'm so sorry YET AGAIN! I'm always forgetting that I have another life on the internet and school is being difficult with the high school applications! T.T Now that I have summer and that I don't really have a life, I'm be SURE this time that I'll really get so much more in! Once again, many apologies! TT^TT

Chelsea: Why are you blabbering excuses when you're supposed to transition them to the story now?

BSS: I'm sorry!

Julia: Now, now, Chelsea, let's just go to the story. ^^" BSS owns nothing but her story, and we do hope that you'll enjoy. ^^;

* * *

Chapter 14- Arrival

* * *

Chelsea's POV-

With a large smile on my face, I stood on the ramp, ready to hop down to the docks of Waffle Island… Right after that horrid name, the smile disappeared and was quickly replaced with a bored frown, but was soon replaced by a flinch. My arm started to sting again, and I tightened my muscles to numb it out. Once the pain faded, I pulled my sleeve down further, paranoid that someone will clearly see the gauze under my short-sleeved jacket.

I jumped down, and was soon greeted by a prissy looking guy. He looked annoyed at first glance of me, and I returned the look, but then my eyes locked sight at the person beside him. There was my cousin.

"Chelsea! You're here! Julia wasn't lying!" I was caught in a bear hug by my cousin, who was screaming in joy. I had to admit… Her grip became stronger! I can't feel my lungs! Scratch that. I can't feel anything!

"H-hey A-A-A-Akari…H-h-how are y-y-you?..." I tried to welcome in a strained voice, but my breath gave way.

"N-n-need… a-a-air…" I gasped out.

"Oh! Sorry!" Akari let go, and I collapsed to the ground, struggling for air. I took in deep gulps, until my lungs stung from it.

"Sorry Chels!" Akari apologized with both of her hand clasped for forgiveness.

"Yeah, yeah. I'm sorry too! I'm sorry that Aunt Jill raised you to be like this! Are you trying to murder me?" I snapped, seething in anger.

"Wahh! Chelsea got meaner!" Akari cried in mock depression. That just made about ten more veins pop in reaction. While I was busy with Akari, ready to slap her silly, everyone already got off the boat and pretty much just stood there enjoying our little show. Right before I started punching my stupid cousin like there's no tomorrow, someone cleared their throat and started speaking.

"If you are quite finished." I heard an annoyed voice speak. I was already pissed off thanks to my cousin, and this guy is just adding fuel to the fire. I was just about to yell at him out of pure anger, but I gave piercing glares at him as the first warning. Akari then decided to try and clear the dark atmosphere.

"Ah. Uh. Um. H-hey how about we introduce ourselves? I'll start… I'm Chelsea's cousin, Akari, and I'm the rancher of this island." Akari spoke in a nervous voice, probably hoping that I won't yell out an insult to this prissy pretty boy.

'_Now Chelsea… He hasn't done anything bad to you, shouldn't you just back down before you get yourself in trouble?' Fluffy Chelsea begged._

'_No way! He apparently doesn't know how to read the air! It's his own fault if he gets himself killed!' Hater Chelsea pulled up a fist._

Sparks were flying between us, but not in a good way. This air could kill a person, that's how hostile we were! I swear! This guy pisses me off more than Vaughn on our first day stuck together! The prissy boy spoke first.

"Yes, well, my names Gill, and I'm the mayor's son." Gill paused for a bit, giving me a glare, daring me to try anything to a higher level of authority. HA! If he was smart, he would've hired a body guard like a real mayor would do!

"My job is to be your guide and to make sure that you enjoy your stay on Waffle Island." Gill maintained a calm voice, which just pissed me off more.

"You failed." I muttered under my breath. I think Gill heard that, since a few veins were seen on top of his head. Oops… Not like I can help it! With that fancy vest over a dress shirt and a huge, complicated brooch on the side just screams "Insult me!" I let out a quiet snicker just thinking about his rather tacky clothes. I was then brought back to the real world when I felt a tug at my upper arm. I looked out at the corner of my eyes, seeing a small creature with a surprised face, excited to get me to go somewhere. Once I noticed it, Akari gave a gasp, signaling that she has also.

"Hey, guys! I'm going to give my cousin a special tour, so you guys keep going!" Akari insisted as she gave a wave to them. Knowing that the little thing can't pull me, Akari decided to help it, pulling my other arm the same direction.

"I see you have met the harvest sprite." Akari gave a grin.

My eyes followed up to the "sprite". This sprite was different looking than the ones on my island. Yeah, I have already seen them, but Noe and the others had to return to the Harvest Goddess for a little while, some kind of project about the meeting of other sprites. This sprite was something else.

This sprite also had reddish-like attire (more like orange), like Noe's, but this one's shape was way different. The body was more fairy-like. Stick like legs and arms, no real body build up. And the face was very simple looking too, like a whole new different style of a sprite.

"There, another one! She can see us too!" The little sprite yelped happily. I gave a questioning look to Akari, and before I got to say anything, the two started to pull me towards a tree.

While the sprite's pull was hardly anything, Akari's force was much stronger, and was doing most of the pulling. Sadly, she was pulling on my left arm, and the hidden wound started to hurt, I endured the pain until both of them stopped pulling. In front of me was a bare tree. The trunks were shaped oddly. They pointed upward, almost making it look like a trident of some sort.

"Finn! Chelsea is not a part of this island! She doesn't live here, and she'll have to leave in a few days." Akari addressed the sprite, now I'm assuming is named Finn. Finn let go with a disappointed frown and a small whine of complaint. I gave another questioning stare towards Akari.

"Oh. You see, this island is going through a hard time right now. I'm the only one on the island, well, except you that can see the sprites. This is the Goddess Tree. The Goddess Tree held power for the Harvest Goddess, but the tree is dying. So I'm the one who has to ring these magical bells to restore the tree. I also heard that there are different Harvest Goddess' around the world too, and now, the people in our family range seem to be the ones who help the Goddess' to regain their powers back." Akari explained, now with a new serious tone in her voice.

Now that explained a whole lot.

"Well then, now that I'm going to be stuck here for a couple of days, I'll help you out. The sooner everything's done the better, right?" I suggested. Akari gave a smile of thanks, and accepted my offer. I took a look at my watch.

_12:08 pm_

Wow. A lot of time has passed from this. I stretched my arms and lightly winced from the sharp pain on my arm, thankfully neither the sprite nor Akari noticed.

"Hey, Chels. Let's get something to eat. It's already 12o'clock." Akari noted. I gave a nod, and Akari guided me to the Inn.

We left the near dead tree, and entered the Inn. The place was very homey-like, and the air was warm and comforting. The place was completely empty except for a middle-aged woman standing by behind the counter, working a cash register, and a small conversation coming from, what I suppose it is, a kitchen.

I seated myself down on the table closest to the door, and Akari sat across from me. While seated, I heard some shooing from the kitchen, and a cheerful looking girl skipped out and up towards us. Her hair was in braided pigtails that curled upwards, and her bright blue eyes added to her personality. She was wearing a pink, frilly maid's like outfit, while a white apron with the same frills was over it waitress style.

"Hey Akari! What can I get for my best friend? Oh? Who's this?" Maya's voice had the perfect girly-girl tone to match her outfit.

"Hi Maya! Yeah, my cousin visited today, and will be staying here for a while." I gave a friendly wave as she pulled out a writing pad, returning it herself.

"Ah. Yes, your order then?" Maya asked.

"Oh! I'd like a vegetable curry. And you Chels?" Akari turned to me. Maya finished writing the dish down, and turned to me also.

"I'll just have omelet rice." I stated while scanning the menu. Maya gave a happy nod, and skipped, once again, behind the counter to the kitchen.

"I hope Maya leaves this to him for once…" Akari muttered, an ill face showing over her usual happy grin.

"Bad experience?" I stated, and Akari gave a nod.

"You see, Chase is really the chef here, but he can be mean sometimes, so Maya is the waitress here, you can see why. Then one day, while Chase was busy at the bar, Maya decided to make the food, I still haven't gone over that for a while… Chase is a really good chef, but I-" Akari was cut off by a loud clank of her dish being settled in front of her.

"You mean the **best** chef, right?" He stated in an irritated voice. He placed the dished I ordered on our table, and gave a small glare at me, most likely because that I was a new face here. I closed my eyes in annoyed understanding, because clearly this guy must be absolutely full of himself.

When I looked up his face, I noticed an oddly familiar pair of eyes. This guy's eyes were violet! Very close to the color of Vaughn's and their personalities match as well. They could be brothers! Though, that's where the similarities end. This guy had a peach colored mess of hair, and his clothes were just a black shirt, a purple apron, and some sandals. On closer inspection of his hair, I noticed that there are three bobby pins lined together; holding a part of his hair down, but everywhere else was a curly mess. By that, it made him look almost like a girl. Really! All he needs is longer hair and there you have it! Just thinking about the image made my mouth curve upwards, but by trying to press it down, I made it into a squiggly line.

I started to quiver in overcoming laughter at those girly pins, and started to question if this person is really a guy (or even straight for that matter!). I couldn't hide it in anymore, and started in full blown out laughter, I was glad that there was nobody else but us in here. Akari made a face like she expected this, and sighed with a stressed voice, but a good humored one. I cachinnate, so much so, that tears started forming on the corners of my eyes. My eyes were screwed shut in fear for that if I look at him again, I'd die from laughter.

"Hey! What's so damn funny?" The angered chef snapped.

He gave a light slap my left upper arm when I wouldn't let up, right on the wound. I winced in pain, and small tears in reaction to the sting started to flow out, but thankfully they mistaken it as the after effect of my laughter. I started to shake my shoulders a bit to fool the two that I'm still laughing, and pointed to the bobby pins of his.

"What? These?" Chase felt around his head and patted his pins. Akari gave a grin.

"She probably surprised to see a guy wearing bobby pins. To tell you the truth, the first time I met you, after seeing those pins, I almost died of laughing all day because it seems really odd on you. I'm sure Chelsea got the same mental image that I did." Akari pointed to me.

I softly rubbed my left arm, trying to mock the pain Chase gave me. Chase brought up a chair, and sat on it backwards. There was nobody else in the Inn but us, so I'm guessing he's trying to kill some time.

"But I don't get it. Why someone cold like you, almost like Vaughn, would wear clips like a girl, and actually kind of look like one?" I innocently asked. Many popped veins were visible on his head, and he started to argue back.

"It's not like I had a choice! When I cook this part of my hair was always in my way, so I had no choice but to keep it down!" Chase was really pissed; I started to laugh again at how sensitive he is about his pins.

Afterwards, everything ended with smiles and laughs, as Chase quickly got over it. Our day ended with him, and as we said our goodbyes, I looked at my little watch.

_2:33 pm_

Akari took a glance over my shoulder to see the time as well, and gave a small gasp.

"Whoa. We've been here much longer that I thought we were. We better get to Town Hall then." Akari started to get up from her seat.

"Town Hall?" I tilted my head towards the side a bit in question.

"Yeah, Town Hall. It's the place where most people sign in their stay to the island. Knowing Gill, he probably brought the group over there." Akari walked over to the door, beckoning me to follow her.

After we arrived to the mansion-like place, I noticed that only Vaughn, Gill, and a lady at the counter were there. I gave a questioning look to Vaughn, obviously concerned where the little pests went. He gave a sigh.

"We already got to eat, so Julia and Sabrina decided to go exploring by themselves, so I'm stuck here with this guy." Vaughn stated through closed eyes. I looked over to Gill, and saw a few veins on his forehead.

""This guy" has a name you know." Gill almost snapped. I got to give props to Vaughn; even though I might've gotten him ready to boil, he angered him on the spot!

I left the two, and turned to my cousin, only noticing that she was already conversing with someone else. Akari was talking with a young lady in a blue housewife dress, wearing a gentle, kind expression. This woman was definitely older than me and Akari, but still looked quite young, she seems familiar though… I brushed it off and walked up to my cousin.

"Hey, Akari, we should get to your farm and get started as soon as possible, to you know, speed up the "process"." I hinted, and she gave a slight 'oh.', and made her way to leave with a wave of goodbye to the mistress.

Akari let me use her guest room for the next few nights of my stay. For that one night, the all too familiar stinging sensation started to make my left arm throb. I tossed and turned on the bed, trying to find a comfortable position. Some of the dried-over blood felt really itchy, almost making me tear open the skin to rid of the uncomfortable irritation. My right arm gripped the wound; making the hot and peeling skin numb itself.

The pain and ache was almost unbearable, but this pain was nothing compared to what I and others experienced in the past. A small injury like this is no excuse for the lack of proper work tomorrow.

"_Besides, something this small should've healed by now, so just give it more time, and it'll be gone before you know it."_ I kept telling myself. Yet, the next day, though, was very painful, as I felt the adrenaline rush through my head.

* * *

BSS: So then, I've been thinking about more stuff to write about.

Chelsea: Oh no...

BSS: So I think I'll be able to continue in my work, since my writer's block isn't as serious now.

Chelsea: Well, either way, this will mean more embarrassment for me, right?

BSS: Hehe! you know me so well~ Well, hope you enjoyed this long delayed chapter, and that I hope you'll join me another in this story~


	16. Chapter 15 Rush

BSS: That last one took me a while, man, who knew I sucked at writing so badly back then.

Chelsea: Proves why you should stop and leave this whole thing behind.

BSS: Ah, but my sadistic Chelsea, this is why I'm revising these as my knowledge of proper writing skills has improved. -w-

Chelsea: Yeah, too bad that your knowledge on everything else is slim to none.

BSS: TT^TT

Julia: Oh dear…

Sabrina: And while Julia cheers BSS up, just as a reminder, BSS doesn't own anything but her stories, and that 'we' all belong to Natsume Productions. Thank you and enjoy~

* * *

Chapter 15- Rush

* * *

Chelsea's POV-

I woke up to the painful ache of my left upper arm. Slowly descending myself from the bed, I rushed to Akari's bathroom. Taking a quick glance at a sleeping Akari, I gave a silent sigh of relief. I quietly opened the bathroom door and entered. Carefully, I pulled open the cabinets, revealing a First-Aid kit.

Getting myself and the kit up, I pulled up my sleeve to see a loose, bloody gauze starting to unwrap itself from my arm. I removed the used gauze in one quick tug, and bandage a fresh one, wrapping the bloody one with some toilet paper so that nobody will notice it. I quickly place the used bandage into the trashcan, and returned the First-Aid kit back to its cabinet. I looked over my wound, and I noticed that the scars that started bleeding won't stop. As shallow as they are, the scars always reopened when I try to move it around. I tightened the fresh bandage around the wound, and made my way to leave.

Once I left the bathroom, Akari was already up. Thankfully, she showed no signs of noticing my bandage. I quickly pulled down my sleeve to hide it. I then gave a smile to my tired cousin. She returned the smile, and got to her dresser to change. After she got into her usual work attire, she started to prepare breakfast.

"Hey Chelsea, how's Waffle Island to you so far?" Akari nonchalantly asked. I shrugged. Akari softly giggled.

"Heh, I know this place is full of "interesting" people, but once you get to know them, they'll make you feel right at home." Akari gave a reassuring grin. Akari brought some grilled salmon and two bowls of rice. We ate in silence.

After we finished, we walked out to her farm and started working. I took her rather heavy watering can while Akari moved into her barn to her animals. My left arm started screaming in pain for that I started to stress it. I felt so relieved when we were done with the work. I was fine back at Sunny Island, but it seems that after a while, the wound started to hurt more and more than it usually did. I tried my very best to ignore it, but it seems that my wound was starting to affect my movements and work.

Afternoon was already setting in and the sun started to turn into a light orange. I straightened my posture when Akari started to suggest something.

"Chelsea! Everything is done here, how about we go out to see the other villagers?" Akari suggested. I gave a small nod, and wished for the best that my wound will stop bothering me.

* * *

Sabrina's POV-

After exploring the island as much as we could yesterday, Julia finally dragged me to the tailoring shop.

"Sabrina, we're almost late for my appointment, so hurry up!" Julia yelled frantically, and started dragging me on the sleeve to her destination.

After about ten minutes of dragging, we finally stopped in front of a clothing shop. The shop was a decent size, and the clothes on display looked like they were professionally made. The displays went down to complete outfits to silky dresses.

Julia pulled me inside of the tailor shop with the doors welcoming us with a ding. An elderly lady was behind the payment counter and a timid looking girl was on a sowing machine, working on what it seems to be a dress.

"Luna! We're here!" Julia called to whomever beyond her.

Then a spunky like girl popped out from a back door in front of us. Her hair was pink, a shade reminding me of Popuri's hair, in pig tails twirling towards the ground in a cutesy way. Her outfit was frilly with many laces, much to her girly-like hairstyle.

"Julia! You're right on time! The dress you asked me to make is almost done! My sister, Candace, is putting on the finishing touches!" Luna ran up to Julia and gave a big welcome hug.

Julia finally lost her grip on me once she was tackled by Luna. I walked to the girl I'm guessing was Candace due to that she was the only one working on something.

Candace had a calm, gentle expression and from the way she was quietly working on the dress without even acknowledging me or Julia, she seems very shy too. Candace had long blue hair separated into two thick braids. Her clothes gave a very homely like sense. She wore a light blue shirt, with a dark blue sweater, the sweater having a light blue outline. A blue plaid skirt was worn with regular brown shoes and navy blue socks.

The sowing machine's 'whirring' sound stopped and Candace picked up the dress to examine it. I turned to her direction of seeing, and I took a closer examination of the dress.

The dress was mainly a deep sapphire blue and it furled over the top neck portion in a V-neck like way and separated in a diamond shape again at the stomach. Under and over the chest part of the diamond separation was a light emerald green portion. Once at the bottom, both of the portions ended in a ruffle-like shape.

"It's beautiful…" I whispered. Candace looked over at me in shock, probably that she didn't notice me while she was examining over the dress. She gave a small nod, a small smile of thanks directed towards me. Julia walked over and peered over my shoulder to take a look at the dress.

"Yeah… This is perfect… It'll look great on Chelsea…" Julia muttered in satisfaction. I blinked in confusion.

"Wait. Julia, I thought you were here to get new custom clothes for yourself." I stated. Julia gave a small giggle.

"Hehe… Well that's partly right. I actually came here to get a dress for Chelsea. This is the reason why I declined that offer for the emerald earrings… But you still made them, right?" I gave a nod.

"Great! Then with the dress and the jewelry that you made, this will look great on Chelsea!" I gave a grin in response.

"Shirley! Can I get this dress wrapped and packed into a box?" The elderly lady by the counter gave a nod, pushed up her glasses, and took out some wrapping materials.

"Sabrina, we should go to the Carmel Falls after this! Especially at sunset! The place is known for its amazing view and romantic atmosphere!" Julia's eyes sparkled at the thought of it.

"Elliot isn't here you know." I gave a small giggle. Julia gave a slight pout.

"But even so…" I giggled again and gave a nod. We both left to it afterwords.

* * *

Chelsea's POV-

"Anissa! We're here!" Akari called to whomever inside of the farm. Then a kind, honest looking lady appeared in front of us.

"Akari! Hello! Oh, this is…" the lady turned my way, and gave a questioning look.

"Oh! My name's Chelsea. I'm Akari's cousin, and I'll be here for a while, so I'm going to help my cousin with her farm for the time being." I answered. The lady gave a nod in welcome.

"Well, Chelsea. It's very nice to meet you. I'm Anissa, and I'm the daughter of the two people who own this farm. I hope you enjoy your stay." Anissa gave a warm smile. I couldn't help but smile back; her smile warmed me up like the afternoon sun. Seemed like Akari was very fond of her as she beamed at Anissa, and ran up to her, giving a welcoming hug as she expanded her arms.

"So, Anissa, how's your farm going?" Akari asked.

"Oh, yes, it's going great. By the way, can you take care of Taylor for a little while? My parents are out eating lunch, and I have a delivery to make for one of my customers." Anissa asked.

"Oh, sure! No problem!" Akari answered.

"Thank you. He must be near Caramel Falls. He is in love with that place!" Anissa gave a kind wave of goodbye and left with her delivery.

Akari lead the way to the waterfall, and an amazing mountain-like figure came before me. There were rocky like chunks stacked together, and a huge waterfall coming from it down to the river below. The sight was breath taking, almost like you were thrown into a new world where all of your worries are all solved in a snap.

Akari pulled my hand, and away from the astonishing sight, to the rocky, jagged path up the waterfall. Akari started climbing, and I was about to question why, until my eyes followed up to a person at the top of the falls.

A short, child-like figure was standing up there, in seems of exploring. The child's blonde spiky hair easily stood out of the stone gray and river blue scenery. Akari waved her hand in begging me to climb up with her; I gave a slight gulp, and lightly gripped my left arm.

I started with my right hand, finding a hold onto the jagged rocks. I started pulling myself upwards, feeling the warmth of the sun-baked rocks through my hands. I gave a very light holding for my left hand, and slowly pulled myself upwards from there also. My booted feet had a hard time finding gaps to insert them in to keep a solid footing. I winced in pain from the stings coming from my left arm.

I made another grab for a rock with my right arm again; I tried my best to stop looking down, knowing that it'll stop me from my destination. I kept going onwards, and as soon as I came close to the top, my feet couldn't find a holding. I tried to dig me feet hard into the tiny gaps the large rocks gave, but quickly slipped out of them. Once I thought I found a solid footing, I made another reach from my right arm. Big mistake.

My foot slipped then, and I quickly descended downwards. My other foot also lost its footing as well, and I barely hanged on with my injured left arm. My left arm screamed in protest and pain as I went against my body's orders and hung on. I called for Akari, and Akari quickly made her way to me. Her face stood a look of shock.

My wound ripped open completely, and blood was pouring out from the gauze. The bright red shade bled through my light orange jacket and started dripping downwards through my sleeve. The wound kept bleeding non-stop and the pain was never ending as well. Akari made for my left hand, grabbed it, and gently pulled me upwards, making sure not to cause the wound anymore strain.

"Chelsea! Are you okay?" Akari walked me over a little too near the edge of the falls and pulled up my sleeve to examine my arm. Her face stood a look of disgust at the poorly treated gauze and the cracked, crusty, dried blood.

"You should've taken better care of your arm! How did you get this in the first place?" Akari scolded. Just then, the boy came over.

"What happened?" The boy exclaimed in response to my wounded arm.

"No time for that Taylor! We need to get her to the clinic, Okay?" Akari suggested. I only answered with small pants.

"Okay!" Taylor agreed.

He started to make his way to the jagged rocks, but before he even took a step, a small rock under him cracked and broke under his weight. There, Taylor started to fall backwards, starting to plummet down towards the end of the water fall. Akari gasped and screamed Taylor's name as she gave a futile attempt to grab his hand. Once Akari pulled her hand back, I leaped forward towards him. Akari then made an attempt to grab my arm, but missed, and I dropped down with him.

I narrowed myself to fall down faster to catch myself up with him. I reached my right hand out towards him, and caught him. I hugged him onto my body and with my left hand, tucked his head under my chin, and made him perfectly safe within my body shield. I squeezed my eyes closed, scared but ready.

I'm ready. Protecting him was all that mattered at the moment. I'm ready to take the injuries; I'm ready for my possible death.

* * *

BSS: Ahh… This almost sounds cliché, doesn't it? What was I thinking last year? Oh well, I'd hate to change up the story too much for you guys, so I'll try and make this work. o_o" Hope you come for the next chapter revision~ ^_^"


	17. Chapter 16 Bruise

BSS: I'M ALIVE! That is, until you guys get really mad at me because it's been nearly forever… ^_^" But either way, no need to worry about me since I live inside most my life. Now I'm still here alone… *Sigh* It's so lonely… Too many serious moments… T.T

* * *

Chapter 16: Bruise

* * *

Sabrina's POV-

My usually small eyes widened to an amazing size when Chelsea crashed down into the fall's water. Julia and I watched in terror once we saw the boy fall over, but the fear grew when Chelsea purposely leaped to the boy to save him.

"HURRY! Chelsea can't swim! Somebody! Save my cousin!" screamed a terrified voice from the top of the falls.

I looked up and saw a figure at the top of the falls; it was Chelsea's cousin, Akari. I quickly reacted to her plead, and ran over to the lake below the falls. I looked back, and Julia dropped her package and collapsed to the ground, trembling in shock. Her eyes were so wide that you can see her whites, still staring at the spot Chelsea was the second before. My eyes slightly narrowed at her still figure. I quickly removed my glasses, and threw them behind me. I took a deep breath, leaped, and dive straight forward into the water.

After diving into the water, I slowly opened my eyes once I got used to the chilly temperature of the water. I turned my head around, searching for the two victims. I then caught a glimpse of red from the corner of my eye. I quickly swam towards the striking color, and once I got close, I noticed that it was not Chelsea's bandanna, but actually a rock, with fresh blood stained on it. As I took in the shock, the blood started dissolving in the water, spreading around its horrifying shade.

Getting close to my limit, I accidentally let out a few bubbles of air, and kicked my legs as fast as they can to the surface. I gave out a large gasp for the air. I searched around the surface, the calm water vibrated by the waterfall slightly moving me back. I gave out another gasp, gulped a large amount of air, and dived down again. I came back to the blood stained rock, and searched around it. I searched a little deeper, and found two figures huddled together. It was the boy, who was losing air trying to pull and drag a larger figure to the surface. That figure was Chelsea.

I quickly swim towards the two, and noticed Chelsea's leg twisted in an odd angle. Terror went through me as I saw that her head was hit as well. I held Chelsea and signaled the little boy to get to surface, and the two of us made it without any trouble.

Akari gasped and pulled the boy on land, soon offering to take Chelsea from my arms. I then pulled myself up to land, feeling my silk-made dress cling onto my body. My hair was messy as they too clung onto my face and neck, making my ribbon sag in the added weight.

Akari held Chelsea as silent tears streamed out of her eyes. I also felt my eyes water, but more of anger than despair. I picked up my glasses and cleaned the excess water on my face, placing them on.

"We need to get her to the hospital." I stated and gave a small glare at Julia.

"I-I'll go… I'll tell them what happened…" Julia slowly stood up, her hair shadowing her eyes, but tears dripped from her face as her lips twitched slightly downwards. Eager to get out of the scene, she ran her whole way there.

Akari quickly wiped her tears on to her sleeve, and picked up Chelsea with her uninjured arm over her shoulders. She started dragging Chelsea to the clinic; I followed, but was stopped from a small thud. I took a glance back, Taylor was holding ankle in pain, and I quickly jogged back to him.

"Are you alright?" I asked.

"I'm fine, just a small scratch." Answered the small boy, but as he started to get up, he again winced in pain. I crouched down to his level, my back showing to him.

"Hop on. No matter the wound, we can't let it get worse, alright?" I persuaded. Taylor gave a small nod, and got on my back. I started rising up, and made my way to the clinic.

* * *

Vaughn's POV-

I was spending some time at the town hall again, seeing as I had nothing else to do. I decided that I mind as well take up a small job there, since I need all the money I can earn. I was still pissed off at the group of girls using me to just get here, well… mostly those two devils. I wonder though… Since the devils are torturous and annoying in every way and shape, I wonder how Chelsea, who is usually the really calm one, is such good friends with the two…

I stacked the paperwork finally finished back on the information desk, and made my way to the files cabinet to organize them, that's when I heard a large slam from the door. I looked over to the door, and saw Julia there. She was sweating and panting, looking like she ran around the whole island within five minutes. I was about to question about her fuss, but from the terror that reflected in her stare caught my interest. Lucky for both of us, the workers here (Namely, only two) already left for home.

"What happened?" I asked, my voice obviously showing concern seeing my cousin out of her usual annoying and cheerful stature. Julia was panting from exhaustion and placed her hand and wrist under her chin, wiping the sweat from her neck.

"Chelsea… She's hurt… I ran to the clin-" Julia pants were cut off as I ran out of the office. I don't know why, but something inside me told me to just go; run, just run towards her.

"V-Vaughn, wait up!" Julia yelled as she tried to catch up with me.

We both burst through the doors of the rather small hospital, but the only thing we saw was a white waiting room, and a door with a surgery sign lit up on the door. I looked to my left, and saw Sabrina comforting a teary and worried Akari. I made my way to the two, trying my best to keep my calm.

Sabrina carried a look of despair, and noticed when I neared; clearly, I wanted to know the whole story. Her tear stained face slowly moving as she explained what happened, and I almost found myself gaping at the unbelievable story.

* * *

Sabrina's POV-

Once we entered the clinic, the doctor, Jin, was already at the door, ready to treat Chelsea. Although, it seems like he wasn't expecting her to be in such a state, and his eyes widened a little. He quickly regained his calm back and waved for us to come into another room.

"Come this way. Place her here, and Taylor, go to the other room to Irene to get that ankle checked." Jin ordered.

I placed Taylor into the room with Irene, and with gentle hands, she cleaned and wrapped up his wound. I started to fidget under the uncomfortable silence, obviously wanting to know if Chelsea will be alright. That's when I sneezed.

"Achoo!" I felt my clothes cling heavily on me, causing me to shiver. I closed my eyes to make the shiver calm down, but it was just too cold in the cold clinic. Opening my eyes again, I saw a towel handed to me.

"My, my, you'll catch a cold if you stay soaking wet like that young lady. Go to the room over there, and you can borrow yourself a hospital gown." Irene passed the towel over to me, and I felt my hands sink into the soft and warm cloth.

"T-thank you…" I sighed and walked over to the door. When I closed the door behind me, I heard an exasperated sigh from the old lady.

"It has been a while since we ever had something serious like this…" Irene murmured. I swiftly turned back to her before I let the door close. Her face was very somber… Her eyes were so distant…

My mind went wild as I removed my glasses and my bow to dry my clunky, wet hair.

_Did something happen?_

I tried to push the thought away, but something inside me kept urging me to learn more. And that maybe Akari may have something to do with it… I left the room with the pure white gown loosely on me and my own clothes in a bag, just in time for Irene to give Taylor instructions.

"Taylor, you sprained your ankle a bit, so it's best to stay off it, alright?" Taylor gave a nod.

"That means staying at home, no matter how bored you get." Irene gave a knowing glare at the little boy, gaining a disappointed groan from him. I giggled a little bit, but was cut off by a frantic voice.

"Taylor!" a young lady barged through the door, heading straight towards him.

"Taylor! Are you alright?" she fussed over him, checking for any serious injuries as her worried hug kept him in place.

"Anissa, I'm fine." Taylor answered as he tried to struggle in her tight grasp.

"I saw you and Chelsea come in, so I became worried! I'm not leaving till I know everything that happened!" Irene gave a sigh, clearly knowing where this was going, and signaled for me to leave, seeing as she has a lot of explaining to do.

I silently made my way out to the waiting room, only to see a distressed Akari anxiously squirming in her seat. Her tears were dried on her face, eyes puffy and red from excessive crying. I took a seat beside her. She gave a look at me, and hiccups started to come up her throat as tears were threatening to fall out from her eyes again. My eyes started to water as well, and hugged Akari in order to comfort both of us, that's also when Vaughn came by… with Julia.

After the explanation, Vaughn also carried a look of shock. He also took a seat by us, and silently waited for the surgery to be over. After a few more minutes, Jin exited the surgery labeled door, getting ready to tell us the news.

* * *

BSS: Well... admittedly, this took me quite a while to get right, and I still think it wasn't made very well. *Sigh* This story is really lonely to me... Note to self: Do NOT make too many sad moments. -_-"


	18. Chapter 17 Injury

Sorry for the cliffhanger… heh… Well here's the next chapter for this one. I hope you enjoyed my story so far! ^w^

Disclaimer: I own nothing but this story. All Harvest Moon characters belong to their rightful owners in Natsume Productions.

Enjoy~

* * *

Chapter 17: Injury

* * *

Sabrina's pov-

Jin exited the surgery room, clipboard in hand. He held an unchanging look, and opened his mouth to tell us Chelsea's condition.

"Your friend, she is going to be just fine." Jin stated. I let out a large sigh of relief in hearing good news.

"She only suffered minor injuries, the gash on her right leg is shallow, and so it'll heal, her left arm has a scar that keeps opening up due to poor treatment of it, and I've already sowed the wounds up. She has lost a large amount of blood, but will live. Right now, she is resting, but I suggest that I keep her in this clinic for at least two more days. Your friend was very being very reckless in letting that wound open up, so I'd say it's best to wait until the wounds heal." Jin explained. We all nodded at the same time, Akari let out a sigh herself, and smeared the tears of her face.

Jin let us see Chelsea for a little while, since it is a late time. All of us entered one by one, into Chelsea's room. She was the first thing I saw in the completely white room. I neared her bed, and examined over her. Chelsea was sound asleep, hair loose, calm face, deep breathing; the only thing that alarmed me that she was hurt was the bandage on her left arm, right leg, and the two needles, one transferring IV, and the other transferring blood, stuck into her right arm.

Chelsea was alright, she was alive, and her injuries are light. My friend, who was like a sister, was going to be okay. I looked over to Akari and the others. Akari was by Chelsea's side, her hand clasped with hers, tears forming in her eyes again, giving out thanks to the goddess for not taking her yet. I placed my hand on Akari's back, in effort to comfort her. Akari turned her head towards me, and gave a faint smile. I looked over to the other two who were with us.

Vaughn carried the look of indifference, and Julia had an anxious face, her right hand rubbing her left arm. Shortly after, Vaughn left for an unknown reason, while Julia left with a guilty face. My eyes narrowed, and I decided to follow her. I alerted Akari of my leave, and she nodded. I quickly made my way outside to follow Julia.

Julia was quickly making her way to Caramel Falls again, and I followed behind the trees, curious on what's she's doing. Julia went back to the white box with the dress. Julia then started whispering to herself. I strained my ears to hear what's she's saying.

"I wonder why I froze up like that." Julia murmured "Why can't I be a little bit stronger? Sabrina was able to do something, but I did nothing. Sabrina is stronger than me mentally, yet I'm weak. Sabrina… I'm so sorry for not doing anything to help." Julia's voice started cracking, and tears started falling towards the ground.

Not being able to take her whining anymore, I ran right out of my hiding spot, surprising Julia from my abrupt appearance. I gave a harsh glare at Julia.

"Julia! What were you thinking? I heard everything, and I must say, I am upset that you didn't help Chelsea, but what makes me more upset is that you are whining about it!" I snapped. Julia backed away a bit in surprise from my outbursts.

"You must understand! We all needed your help, but you didn't do anything! I know that, and I'm very angry right now! Look at yourself! Stop whining over what's already done! Do what you can to help Chelsea now! What's done is done, so… stop feeling guilty for it… okay?" My voice started trailing off, small tears forming on my eyes as well.

"Sabrina! I'm so sorry! I was so scared! I didn't know what to do." Julia admitted. I gave a nod, and started comforting her. I understand, she was scared for Chelsea, and is guilty for not being able to do anything, but all of us have to look towards the future, and do what we can to make it better. Besides, Julia did help as well.

* * *

Vaughn's pov-

I heard light sobs from the falls, and quickly hid behind a tree. I peered over the tree, and saw the two devils crying near the falls. I gave out a silent sigh in seeing that Sabrina must've understood how Julia is with tight situations. It irritated me when Julia is so troublesome, but when makes others understand her way, it irritates me even more.

I moved down slowly, and sat on the soft grass under me. I decided to wait out on the two devils, seeing as I have no choice but to wait.

After about ten minutes of quiet sobs from the two, they finally got up and walked to the Inn. I gave out an exasperated sigh once they were out of sight. They sure took their time…

I looked around to see if there was anybody around, and slowly walked over to the edge of the falls once the coast was clear. I scanned over the whole lake in hopes of a glimpse of red. I looked over the edges, and came across a small boulder in the water. I boulder was right on the ledge, and on the side of it was red felt. I closed in to the piece of cloth, and finally identified it as the item that I was looking for. I made my way to the Inn afterwards to get the cloth washed, and awaited the next day.

* * *

_The next day…_

* * *

Chelsea's pov-

My world was black. Darkness spreads around me, covering me with its blindfold. I then remembered the incident. It happened so fast, my body slicing through the air, and the contact of pain and water gushing trough me. I thought I was already dead, but that was until I felt something soft, yet firm, under me. I then made out sounds of beeps coming from a machine, the smell of an overly clean room, bandages, and… blood.

My eyes shot open to the current world I was in. The place I was in was completely white, only my body was out of place here. I turned my head left, then right, knowing for sure that I wasn't in any room. I was on a pure white bed. The room had posters on the wall, with diagrams and x-rays of a person's body. There was a machine by me, waves coming through it with every beep it makes.

I examined my arm and noticed two needles stuck in it. One needle carried a white liquid, and the other a red liquid, I followed the needles' source of liquid, and saw two stand-ups with a bag hung on each of them, the colors matching the liquid in the needles. I started to move, seeing if I could get off of the bed, but was stopped by an incredible pain coming from my leg and arm. My attempts of trying to move stopped when I heard the door open, and a doctor, I'm guessing, appeared in front of me.

"So you're up. I'd say it's best to stop moving, and get some more rest." The doctor walked over to me, and pressed his hand on my forehead to get me back down on the bed again. I fell backwards from his light push, as I was tired, and really did want to do nothing but sleep. Then it hit me.

"Wait! What happened? Where are Akari, and the others?" I blurted out before I thought it over. I sat up again alert for any of them, but once I got in a sitting position, I winced from the pain of my arm and leg.

"Stop! I wouldn't move if I were you, those wounds aren't completely healed so they can open up anything." The doctor warned. I stopped from his warning and decided to question him since he's already here and I'm as confused as ever.

"Who are you?" I asked. The doctor gave out a sigh, realizing that he has to stay here and answer my questions until I'm satisfied.

"My name is Jin, and as you can see, I'm the doctor who took care of you once you were brought in." Said the doctor, now address as Jin. "Akari and your friend came by and dropped you off here, in a horrible state no less. They already told the story to me on how it all happened, and from your injuries, it was quite reckless of you to even try doing that while your arm was cut up."

I rubbed the back of my neck with my right hand and gave a lop-sided smile, feeling embarrassed that I was told off for foolishly trying to be a hero. After Jin finished explaining all of the things that I needed to know, I finally put the puzzle pieces together. Once I get out of this white clinic, I need to thank and apologize to all of them.

After a few more words of how stupid I was, Jin finally left to let me rest. I gave out a small smile to myself, and stared out of the window beside me. I stared at the scenery in front of me, hypnotized at its beauty. The bright visible colors of the cherry blossom trees reflected on the window, and the sun created brightness on those trees.

In the mean time, I was so focused on the scenery that I didn't notice the door slowly opening. I finally returned to the present once I heard footsteps closing in on me. I turned in reaction, and my eyes widened in surprise once I saw the person nearing me. The person was Chase.

_(a/n: I got you all didn't I? Thought it was Vaughn huh?)_

"Chelsea. I heard you got hurt, so I decided to stop by if you're doing alright." Chase told his reason of coming.

"I-I'm fine." I answered. Chase gave a smile at me, glad that I was feeling better. I smiled back.

"Here." Chase lifted a small box with a fork taped to it. "I thought I'd make you something, to enjoy your stay for a bit since you got off in a rough start." Chase stated.

Chase handed me the small box, and I took it in turn. Chase gave a small 'bye' and left the room. My eyes were wide in curiosity for what was inside of the box. I took off the fork taped onto the box, and placed it in my mouth since my right arm was busy and my left hurts like hell.

I slowly opened the box, and what it revealed made me smile.

The box contained a slice of strawberry shortcake. The vanilla sponge cake was only seen from the sides, the back part and top was covered in a well made cream. Whipped cream became a small hill on top of the cake, and there was one strawberry placed perfectly on top. The cake was made so well, my mouth watered from just looking at it.

I took the fork out of my mouth, now in my right hand. I cut through the soft sponge cake and lifted the piece from the slice. I stabbed the fork trough the piece of cake and placed it inside of my mouth. I gave a smile from the light taste of the cake and the perfect thickness of the cream. My face tinted a light pink from the wonderful taste that danced around my mouth. The feeling repeated again and again as the cake got smaller and smaller. Soon after, I finished the cake rather quickly, and enjoyed every moment of the heavenly taste.

I placed the fork inside of the box, and closed it. I placed it on the stand beside me. I was very tired from my injuries, and plopped down on the very firm bed. Within seconds I gave into sleep, ready for the next day.

* * *

Unexpected twist! I wonder how this will turn out. Stay tuned for the next Chapter! ^w^


	19. Chapter 18 Possible Interest

I thought that I could write… er… type another chapter for you guys. Also, thank you so much for those who always review me! You people made this possible! Ahem.. Back to the matter at hand. Here comes the weekdays! Now I'll be sure to get more chapters in! ^w^ Now enough of this! On to the story!

Disclaimer: I own nothing but this story. All Harvest moon characters belong to their rightful owners in Natsume Productions or whatever.

Enjoy~

* * *

Chapter 18- Possible Interest

* * *

Vaughn's pov-

I was walking up the clinic with the washed red felt in hand, but someone else already got there before me. An odd person walking right in to Chelsea's room was holding something white, and from looking at him, he seems to be a bit flustered. I silently walked over the door, and peered through the small crack in between.

The guy still carried a flustered look, but Chelsea didn't notice it, even though it was very obvious. Just looking at Chelsea giving smiles at a guy she probably hardly knows about got me a little frustrated. I tightened my grip on the red cloth, obviously not very comfortable at their little chat.

After seeing the small interaction between them, the guy made his way to the door; I quickly stepped back and hid behind the wall cutting off the hallway. The guy left and I returned back to the door, and looked through the crack again.

There was Chelsea, she opened the box, and from the looks of it, it was a cake. Chelsea gave a cheery smile and started eating the cake. Within every bite of the cake, Chelsea gave smiles and small laughs in happiness. A few more seconds passed, and Chelsea already finished the cake, and from how fast she finished the thing, she enjoyed it.

My eyes narrowed slightly at the sight. Soon, Chelsea fell asleep, still completely unaware of me standing right behind the door. Again my grip on the red cloth tightened some more, feeling like if I held any tighter, the cloth will fall apart in my hands. I quickly took my leave, returned back to the Inn, the same place that guy works in. I jogged up the stairs, avoiding any contact to anyone who was near me.

I entered the dark room and plopped onto my bed, still upset about earlier. I didn't understand though. I don't know why I'm like this. I still don't know all that much about Chelsea, yet it makes me so angry to see her with that guy. (Never got his name…) I looked over at the red bandanna in my hand. I was planning to give this to her since she lost it in the waterfall. I even took the time to wash it myself, but on the day I was planning to give it to her, she was enjoying a different gift from someone else.

Again, I didn't understand why I even gone through the trouble to even wash this thing. Why did I even bother to look for it, why did I even care? I'm so confused! I'm so angry, and yet I don't know who or what I'm angry at! Who am I angry at? That guy? Chelsea? Those devils? Or…me?

My head couldn't take much more of this, and I turned onto my side, trying to get comfortable. Again I remembered the chocolates that were made for me. I rummaged through my suit case, looking for them. I felt tin foil, and grabbed it. I quickly pulled the tin foil out, and opened it up a bit. I took another chocolate square and popped it in my mouth. I wanted the sweet flavor, but as it melted and dissolved in my mouth, the taste was bitter. Very bitter.

* * *

Chelsea pov-

I was still sitting on the bed, excitedly waiting for my discharge. Jin came in with his clipboard, and Akari, Sabrina, Julia, even Chase, (they became pretty good friends back at chapter 14…) came by to pick me up. I looked around for another person that I was expecting, but he wasn't here. I felt oddly disappointed, I didn't know why, but it felt natural for some odd reason.

"Well, your wounds are recovering fine, but I want you more careful at what you're doing at all times. If those wounds open up again, and judging from your poorly treated arm **and **attempts in trying to leave the clinic unauthorized, I will drag you back here myself, and keep you on watch 24/7, understand?" Jin ordered with his eyes closed, but his right eye started twitching, and a few popped veins appeared here and there.

I gave out a nervous laugh and nodded my assurance. The other girls vowed that they will watch me, and Chase just gave out a laugh at my escape attempts. I admit, I was very bored inside of that clinic, I was glad that I will be free from this horrid place. I felt much better too. My arm was completely healed, and the gash on my leg was healed as well, but there was a catch with my leg. My right leg was hit on a bad place, so the lower portion of my tibia gained a crack, but thankfully it will be healed in a few days.

I grabbed my crutches and started popping down the stairs, still jittering with excitement of being free of this place. I gave a wave of goodbye to Jin, and the others did the same once they caught up with me. Jin gave a small wave back, and turned the other way to renter the clinic. Chase walked up beside me, a wide smile on his face, and still laughing.

"A hah! Ha! C-Chelsea I never heard of a patient trying to leave the clinic by themselves! That was the first time I saw Jin so angry in my life! He usually a very collected person, but we can leave it up to you to do the impossible." Chase laughed. I started laughing too, and playfully punched Chase on the shoulder.

"Really? Heh. Well, it's my job to do things like that!" I grinned. Chase and I shared a few more laughs, and somehow, I felt really relieved, like I was never hurt. Akari started to join in as well.

"Now Chelsea, I kinda feel bad for the poor guy, I mean, he had to deal with you, and I'm surprised that he didn't come across one of your moody days!" Akari started laughing as well, despite the pity she felt for Jin. "Hey!" I mocked anger and lightly jabbed her in the ribs.

_A few more minutes later…_

Chase now had to leave to the Inn and get on to work, and gave a wave of goodbye to me. I smiled widely in response and gave a large wave as well. Akari left to her farm, and Jin must've been serious about his threat to drag me back, so I decided it was best not to risk it. It was only the devils and the crippled me left. And knowing that we were missing one more person in our group, I walked up to Julia. I gave a light pat on her arm, and Julia turned over to me, giving a light smile in saying 'what is it?'

"Hey, Julia. I was wondering… that…" I muttered the last words, a little frightened on what the answer might be. Julia gave a confused look.

"I'm sorry. What was that?" Julia cupped her hand over her ear in trying to decipher the words that I was trying to say. Sabrina started her way here as well, seeing as she was the only person left and there really was nothing to do. Sabrina leaned over Julia's shoulder, and cupped her ear well, trying to understand what I'm trying to say. I took a deep breath, and tightened my grip on the handles on my crutches.

"I was wondering that why wasn't … there." I muttered the word of importance again, and the two also had a hard time hearing it, but after that sentence, I think they understood what I was talking about and so in responce, large cat-like smiles started spreading over their faces.

"We're sorry, what was that~?" The pair said simultaneously, the sing-song voice adding to my discomfort. I see that they were going to make me say those words like I really care. I hung my head and started hopping towards the bench to sit down, knowing that it might be a while till then. Before I decided to try and speak again, I gave out a few deep breaths and small pinches here and there, trying to keep myself from stuttering just in case. I exhaled and started to speak.

"I was wondering why wasn't well… our other 'friend' with you guys?" After that sentence, Sabrina gave out a pout and Julia sighed.

"Haaa~… close enough I guess…" Julia sighed. Sabrina moved over to the bench and sat down beside me, Julia took a seat also, taking a spot beside me as well. Sabrina spoke first.

"Well, actually Vaughn didn't tell us why he didn't want to come. I think he's a bit busy, since he got a temporary part time job at Town Hall." Sabrina explained. I gave a small 'oh' and gave a smile.

"Okay then." I said in slight disappointment. "Hey guys, do you have any idea where my bandanna is? I think I lost at the falls, but nobody said that they seen it." I said trying to change the subject.

"Hmmm… actually I haven't seen it either, and we were just at the falls yesterday…" Julia added. Sabina gave a nod agreeing with her.

"Oh, I see. Well thanks for trying." I sighed in disappointment. I gave a small wave to them and returned to Akari's house. During my walk, er, hop, the wind easily blew trough my head, my hair flying in the direction of the wind. The top of my head felt empty, and without my bandanna, I really don't feel like myself.

My mother was the one who gave me that bandanna, and now it was the only connection that I have with her. She knitted it herself, and gave it to me on _that _birthday. While she was coming to my father's house, that bandanna was the present she was planning to give me. Now she was gone, and this is the only thing left that I have of her. I wore that bandanna everyday of my life, but with it gone now, it feels like I lost a part of me. It feels like I lost my mother again, she slipped through my hands by a mistake that I made out of instinct. It kinda hurts, seeing as I lost something so precious, like I lost my mother again, like a part of me just died; it felt that way now at least.

I finally made it to Akari's farm, and saw Akari working hard on it. Akari looked up from her work, and saw me nearing her. Akari gave a wave with a smile; I tried to return it to the best of my abilities. Thankfully Akari was too far to see my smile and probably only noticed my wave.

I hopped back to the house and sat down on the kitchen table. I gave out a sigh, knowing that I probably won't see my bandanna again. In complete depression, I dragged my injured leg into the guest room, which is my room for the time being. Then I saw something red on my bed.

I neared my bed, still trying to drag my leg behind me. A red cloth, in a perfect square shape was on my bed and a note taped on top of it. The red cloth was my bandanna! I picked up my bandanna and the cloth was made by the same felt my bandanna is made from. I took off the note that was taped to my bandanna. I opened the note, and started reading.

_I found your bandanna, and decided to wash it as I already had it. I didn't see you today because I was busy washing it._

_Vaughn_

My eyes widened slightly, and feeling the clean bandanna in my hand, my look of surprise was replaced with a happy smile. I sat down on my bed and tied my bandanna around my head. I felt so complete, and the bandanna felt very soft as well. My smile widened when my bandanna was taken care of very well. The texture of my bandanna was very soft, and crisp at the same time, like it was brand new, but I knew that it was mine because my initials were written on one of the corners. I was so happy that I quickly grabbed my crutches and hopped as fast as I could back to the Inn.

I stopped at the Inn and entered. I gave small waves to Maya and Chase, and as they returned it, I quickly made to room 13, the room where Julia and Sabrina were staying. I burst into their room, and the two roommates in there gave surprised looks once I entered. Sabrina was the first to notice me reunited with my bandanna.

"Hey, Chelsea! You got your bandanna back!" Sabrina happily announced. I gave a nod.

"Yeah! My bandanna ended up in my house, and there was a note attached to it. See here's the note; this also explains why Vaughn wasn't at the clinic at my release." I took out my note, and showed it to them. Sabrina gave a small smile, probably thinking the blackmail she can do with it. Julia's expression to it was unreadable, but was soon replaced with a smile.

"Looks like Vaughn is showing some interest…" Julia smirked. I was very happy about this nonetheless, mostly because it involved my bandanna. Soon after I left the two, returning back to Akari's house to tell her the good news as well, but before I left, I walked up to Chase.

"Hey Chase. I wanted to thank you about that cake, it was really good!" I praised with a cheery tone and a wide smile. Chase's face turned slightly red at the comment, and I gave a hug in thanks... I was really out of it when it comes to my treasure, and I think that the anesthetics were still in my system.

"Thanks for coming to my discharge day, and the cake. You helped me so much yet we only known each other for a few days!" I gave out another happy smile. Chase's face turned redder, and gave out a small 'You're welcome.' I gave out another nod.

I made my way to the door, but stopped when I felt a pair of eyes on me. I turned around, feeling the stare from the stairs up to the small Inn rooms. Once I looked, there was no one there. Nobody was there; I gave a small shrug, and returned to the house, half skipping and half hopping along the way.

* * *

Julia's pov-

When Chelsea came by and showed that letter she just got from the bandanna, my suspicion started to rose. I saw it, what Vaughn did, because on my way back to the Falls to pick up the white box I left, I noticed Vaughn looking for something. Vaughn was looking for something around the edge of the falls. He gave out a sign of finding something, and pulled it out of the water. It was Chelsea's bandanna. From then, I followed Vaughn back to the Inn, after, of course, getting my present I dropped back there. He started washing the bandanna in the washing machine. Then in a few minutes, the bandanna came out as good as new.

Even the next day after, he left the Inn in the afternoon. I decided to follow him again, as he was acting very suspicious. I saw the whole incident with Chase and stuff, and he did seem upset. (I'm very nosy at times...)

Now, I saw him casually walking out of his room, well, was casual until he saw Chelsea with Chase. He hid behind the stairs, and I hid behind the wall splitting the hallway. He stared intently at the two who had a cute little interaction, a hug, and blushing coming from Chase. Chelsea all of the sudden looked up and Vaughn hid deeper in the covering of the stairs. After Chelsea left, Vaughn left as well, but back into his own room. By this, I was very confused, but still very suspicious of the cowboy.

I wonder what's gotten into Vaughn; he's acting different from normal. I wonder if he's upset about the two down there. Maybe he's jealous, but I guess it's too soon to decide. Looks like that I'll have to keep a closer inspection on Vaughn and the two who were acting like a couple, but somehow, I feel troubled about this.

* * *

A rival has now come up! I wonder how this will go. And I wonder how Vaughn will react to this... Stay tuned to possibly find out! PS: I'm so happy that I was able to get so far in this story, and also, it'll be a while before they get back to the island, but I'll give you a small tidbit. They will be back before Chelsea's birthday. Yay! \ ^O^ /


	20. Chapter 19 Jealousy

I was really bored these days, so I decided to make another chapter on this story. I hope you guys are enjoying this so far. ^o^ Also, I'm sorry if I make a lot of mistakes in my writing, I'm not a very good writer, so I'm happy to those who actually like this… :P Well on to the story!

Disclaimer: I own nothing but this story. All Harvest Moon characters belong to their rightful owners in Natsume Productions or whatever.

Enjoy~

* * *

Chapter 19- Jealousy

* * *

Chelsea's pov-

I woke up and jumped off of my bed, and stretched my legs and everywhere else for a while. A few days passed since my bandanna came back to me. Finally I was out of the cast for my cracked tibia, and felt as good as new. I walked over to Akari's calendar to check what day it was.

_Spring the 13__th_

After reading today's date, I noticed a circle over the next day. I looked closely to read Akari's tiny handwriting.

_~Flower Festival~_

The date was written with small hearts coming from it… I guess Akari really likes this day. I looked over to my nightstand and took out a brochure from the drawer. I opened the brochure and moved to the festivals section. I searched through the listed names of festivals, and finally found the _Flower Festival_.

_**Flower Festival:**_

_Held on the 14__th__ of spring_

_A time for people to enjoy the cherry blossoms that bloom only in this time of the year. Enjoy the flowers with a friend or a compatible pair-_

My interest was lost after friend, and thought that this festival might be fun to, you know; enjoy the little things in life. I loved cherry blossoms, as Mark usually take me out to the woods to see them near Gotz workshop. We only went there on the times when Gotz isn't working though, as he hates me as well…

My eyes started to lower, but came back to my senses when I heard the ruffling of sheets. I looked over to the source of the sound, and saw my cousin, Akari starting to sit up in her bed. Akari rubbed her eyes and gave out a yawn. With eyes still closed, Akari started to get up and out of bed, her hair matching her tired face no less. I gave out a small giggle, and walked over to the sleep walking Akari.

"Hey Akari, you coming out of your trance yet? If I'd known better, I could've mistaken you for the walking dead!" I laughed out, and rolled the brochure in my hand, and lightly smacked the back of her head with it. Akari fell over onto her own bed from that hit, and with her eyes **still** closed, looked up at me, another yawn coming from her mouth.

"Ugh. I feel like Toby after an afternoon nap…" Akari then turned her head over, and spoke in a muffled voice. "Heay. Cheuls. Caun yoof tauke caref off mfy faurm forff meeyf?" I hardly heard what Akari was saying until my ear was right by her. I gave a giggle, and walked into my closet to change.

I put on my usual clothes, and tightened my bandanna onto my head. I gave a wave at my lazy cousin, and left the house with a light slam. I walked out to the poultry barn, and entered with all of these animals surrounding me for food. I scanned over the animals and noticed that there were five chickens and four ducks.

I knew there were more animals as Akari was quite the breeder. I looked over the squabbling birds and noticed four boxes connected together, and each of them having a hole inside.

I carefully made my way over the birds, and the once I started walking to the boxes, the birds followed me in a line. I took a step and heard a few scratching sounds of tiny feet coming closer to me. I turned around, and all of the birds looked up at me intently. I stared back at them for a few seconds until it seems like they won't budge unless I give them food.

I walked up to the feed dispenser and took out some bird feed. As soon as I took out the feed, the bird gave squawks and tried to fly up to the food in my arms. I skillfully dodged the frantic attempts to get me to drop the feed. I finally made my way to the feed bins and placed feed for every bird I noticed. While the birds were busy with their food, I finally walked over to the boxes. I looked inside and noticed these worm-like squirmy things moving inside of the box. My eyes went round and I jumped back and fell to the ground with a 'thump'.

"HOLY CRAP! WHAT ARE THOSE THINGS?" I yelled in surprise and disgust. Then a laugh was heard from the entrance, I looked over and noticed Akari standing there, trying to hold in her laughs. Akari's cheeks puffed up in trying her very best not to laugh, because you could see my popped veins as clear as day on my forehead.

After a few seconds of holding her laughs, she blew up with loud roars of uncontrollable laughter. More popped veins came up and I grabbed her shirt, pulling her down to my level, a fist ready to give her a world of pain.

"AHAHAHHA! S-sorry Chels! Phhpt! The l-look on y-your face was a-absolutely rich!" Akari kept on laughing, and after a few minutes and slaps from me, she finally stopped laughing.

"O-ok I'm good. Haaa~ that was too much…" Akari huffed. She cleared her voice and regained her usual look.

"These 'things' you call them, are silkworms. Silkworms create silk ever once in a while, hence the name. They also eat bird feed, oddly enough, but also you can pet their heads, they seem to like that." Akari explained.

Akari started taking care of her silkworms or whatever you call them. I turned my attention away from Akari and the worms to a small chirping sound coming from a small box with one hole on the side of it. I walked over to the small box, and looked into the hole on the side. Inside was a small Blue jay, one of its wings bandaged up. The Blue jay pitifully stared up at me and gave a small chirp. I noticed that this one wasn't fed yet, probably because it can't leave the box with an injured wing.

I rose up from my position and took some feed out of the dispenser. I returned to the Blue jay and put a little feed on my hands. I placed my handful of seed in front of the little bird, and the bird timidly started pecking at it. I gave a small smile, and carefully petted the bird as it started eating more and more of the feed. Akari came over and looked over my shoulder at the small bird.

"Hey, Chels, this is the first time I saw Indigo getting comfortable around others." Akari gave a small smile as well. "You see, Indigo was hurt by a person, probably a hunter who trapped the poor thing. It took me a month to get Indigo comfortable around me, but it only took you five minutes." I looked up to her, my smile now gone.

"Maybe we have some relation to each other, like our past or we stood out too much." I blankly stated. Now realizing that we were wasting our time here, while there was still a barn to go to, I snapped out of my blank trance and ran out to the barn.

Once I entered the barn, many animals were there, but only three types. There were four horses, three sheep, and… is that an ostrich? My eyes went wide in confusion as to why an exotic animal inside of a barn on a small island were the lands are mostly woods and lake. I looked at Akari who just caught up to me, and was laughing nervously at me.

"Ah. Haha. Well, this is an ostrich as you can see, but they are really useful here, and oddly enough, Horn ranch have these in stock, so I thought, what the heck, I'll take one." Akari answered.

I gave out a sigh at my weird cousin, and walked up to the horses. All the horses had different coats, ever single one with a beautiful shine on them. I took out the brush Akari lent me and started brushing the horses. The white, grey, and brown ones were very calm, a neighed in happiness at me once I finished brushing. I then neared the black horse, and my eyes went round at the resemblance of this horse and Knight, my horse back home. The only difference between the horses was that my horse had a white diamond shape on his forehead. I started to near the horse and it backed away angrily. I paused in confusion, as all I was going to do was brush it. Akari walked by my side again, her side of the jobs now done.

"Sorry Chels. His name is Dark Path. He is a very cold horse; every person that nears him will either get bucked or ignored." I gave into cold sweat, imagining what would've happened if Dark Path chose the first one. I stared at Dark Path eye to eye and an evil twinkle appeared in his eyes, I started to back away and hide behind Akari.

"Don't misunderstand Chels, he's really nice once you get to know him… in a really twisted way though… I have an idea! How about we go out for a ride around the island? I'll ride Snow Fall, and you can ride Dark Path, the others are just recovering from being sick."

Akari walked over to the white horse, now addressed as Snow Fall, and rose on top of the saddle. I looked over to Dark Path, and apparently he didn't have a saddle on top of him. Although I'm used to riding horses bare-backed, because I didn't own any saddles, and my horse, Knight, found it uncomfortable, I was truly terrified to ride Dark Path. I cautiously neared him, and lightly petted his muzzle. Oddly, Dark Path stayed calm enough for me to get on top of him.

I quickly hopped on top him, having a few boxes under me due to height difference, and he stayed still until I was safely mounted on him. Akari gave the thumbs up and opened the barn door for both of us to leave. Once Akari left the barn, and me coming out right after, that's when Dark Path went out on full charge. Dark Path dashed right out to the town once we exited. I blurted out commands for him to stop running, but he didn't slow down on bit. I screamed for help to Akari, saying that her horse is trying to murder me.

"AKARI! HELP! I DON'T WANT TO DIE YET!" I yelled at Akari, who's dashing on Snow Fall after me. I held onto Dark Path's neck, terrified that if I let go, I'll crash down on the ground and break my neck or something. The corners of my eyes started watering at this scary situation, and the wind splitting between my face.

Just then, I saw Vaughn leave the Inn, in his regular attire no less, and rope was hanging on the side of his belt. We pasted right by him, and Vaughn jumped back in complete surprise. I shouted another favor of help, and by then, Chase came out also. The two ran towards me and the runaway horse, and soon Akari caught up to me. Akari blocked the horse's way, and slowed Dark Path down.

Vaughn and Chase finally caught up and Vaughn lassoed Dark Path so that he won't go anywhere. I was still stuck on Dark Path, mostly because that height difference thing I mentioned earlier. While Akari was mounting off of Snow Fall, and Vaughn was busy with Dark Path, Chase came up and extended his arms to me. He extended them under my arms and picked me right off of the horse. Chase then placed me down to the ground, and patted my head.

"You alright?" Chase asked. I only gave a nod, still petrified from the near death experience. Chase gave only a soft chuckle, and pulled me by hand to the Inn, as the other two saviors still busy with the black terror.

Chase seated me down to a table and left to get me water. Chase quickly returned and I gulped down the water as fast as I could, and finally gave a sigh after a few seconds of non-stop drinking.

"Thanks Chase. I thought I would be a goner by then." I sighed. Chase gave another chuckle and patted my head again.

"Not a problem, but you really should thank Vaughn and your cousin for saving you." Chase replied. I shook my head.

"I'll only thank Vaughn and you, because Akari made me ride that thing." I stated. Chase gave a sigh.

"Well I can't argue with that then." Chase took the chair beside me. I looked over and gave a thankful smile. Chase's face turned slightly pink, and gave a lopsided smile in return.

"Hey, I've been thinking, since tomorrow is the Flower Festival, uhh…" Chase scratched the back of his head, his face turning a bit more of a red color. Hmm. Maybe he's just tired from running to the horse, I mean; I'd have a hard time running in sandals too.

"Would you like to go to the festival with me? It would be fun." Chase stuttered his sentence, but I gave a smile in return.

"Sure." I answered. I gave a wide smile, and Chase's face became a brighter red. Heh. He must be really tired or something. I soon left the Inn, passing by Vaughn who just stopped by here, I gave a 'thank you' to him, but his expression was unreadable. I gave a shrug of my shoulders and left the Inn.

* * *

Vaughn's pov-

Once I lassoed the horse who was trying to take Chelsea's life, I quickly calmed him down. Akari jumped off of her white horse and came to examine the black one.

"Dark Path! What were you thinking? You should've been more gentle with Chelsea!" Akari scolded. I left them to their problems and walked back to the Inn, as my work was done. Once I entered, I heard Chase's invitation to the Flower Festival. My eyes widened once I heard Chelsea's answer of acceptance of the invitation.

I was still frozen on the spot from what I just witnessed. Chelsea met me once she got to the entrance, and spoke a word of thanks for saving her. My expression became blank to make it impossible to read. Once she left, I quickly made my way up the stairs to my room. I plopped down on my bed and rubbed my temples.

My eyes narrowed in thinking that Chelsea accepted to go on a date with _him _tomorrow on that stupid festival. Who makes a festival for just seeing some flowers anyways? Why am I getting so angry? It's not like I care what Chelsea is doing for her life!

…

Do I?

* * *

I Hope you like it so far! I wonder what's going to happen in the Festival? Stay tuned to find out! ^w^


	21. Chapter 20 Mistake

I had nothing to really do, so I made another chapter. Well… Here you go.

Disclaimer: I own nothing but this story. All Harvest Moon characters belong to Natsume Productions blah, blah, blah, we get the deal so lets get on to the story!

Enjoy~

* * *

Chapter 20- Mistake

* * *

Chelsea's pov-

I walked out of the barn, finally finishing the farm duties with Akari… and managing to survive the day without Dark Path trying to hunt me down. I patted my short jeans, getting the dust out of the folds. I then took a look at my watch.

_6:30 pm_

My eyes widened from the time. I hurriedly ran back to Akari's house to get ready for the Flower Festival.

Just yesterday, Chase asked me if we could go to the Flower Festival together, I said yes. Chase is a pretty cool friend, and I'm sure that the Flower Festival will be fun. Chase was the first friend I made on this island, and it won't be a problem that I go with him as a friend, right?

I opened the door and walked inside, but only to see Akari, Julia, and Sabrina waiting for me with devilish smiles on their faces. I quickly turned on my heels and reached for the exit of the nut-job house, but I felt a hand on my shoulder pull me inside against my will.

"Where do you think you're going messy missy?" I heard an evil voice behind me. I gave out a cold sweat and timidly turned around to whoever was behind me. I met faces with Sabrina with a devilish gleam in her eye. I started to shrink back, absolutely terrified on what the three devils were going to do.

"Hey~ Chelsea~ you're filthy~ The Festival is going to start soon~ we better get you changed into something more suitable~" Julia singed with a frightening charm. I held up my hands defensively and started backing away bit-by-bit to the door behind me. Just then, Akari was behind me with that same evil face and pushed me forward to the guest room.

"You better hurry and take a shower. You don't want to look like that at a wonderful and socializing festival like this." Akari persuaded. Now knowing this conversation is going, a small popped vein was visible on my forehead. I gave out an exasperated sigh and closed my eyes in irritation.

"Tch. Fine. I guess that I don't have much of a choice now, do I?" I sighed.

I turned around to my dresser and pulled out a few simple articles of clothes. I got out my knee-length black jeans, a white T-shirt, a half-torso long sleeved jacket, and the girl *ahem* essentials. I brought the outfit inside of the bathroom, and made my way to the faucet. I quickly turned on my faucet and heard the loud gushing of the water switch to a soft sprinkle of the shower. I undressed myself and placed my trusty bandanna on the outfit, planning to wear it again.

I slowly walked in the bathtub and immediately felt the welcoming warmth of the water. The air quickly changed into a steamy mist, filling my face with its infatuating heat. The dirt on my body started to stream down to the bathtub floor. The soap and shampoo on my hair cleaned it of any unsanitary particles.

Soon the soap rinsed off and my body felt clean. I turn off the faucet, the water immediately ceased from coming out, now filling the air with complete silence except the small drips of water falling from my hair. I reached for the towel and started drying myself off as I walked out of the tub. I looked over to my outfit, but noticed that it was gone… MY OUTFIT WAS GONE!

I looked everywhere and finally noticed a clean pair of clothes with the same 'essentials' I had with them. I gave out a sigh in relief, but as I took a closer look at the outfit, they weren't the clothes that I picked! I started to fume in anger as my mind was picturing the devils picking them out and replacing them with my outfit. Although, I wasn't stupid enough to walk out with only a towel as my cover, so I started to change into these odd articles of clothing. After a few minutes of trying to put on these clothes, as these weren't the type of clothes that I'd usually wear, I took a look of myself in the mirror.

On my torso, I wore a black spaghetti strap blouse hugging me tightly, clearly showing the shapes of my body. Over the blouse was a red and black, half torso, short-sleeved light jacket, and a pair of red gloves with a black, belt-like, 'X' pattern over them to match. For my lower portion, I wore a glossy overtop red and black miniskirt, sadly enough. Most of the skirt was black, only the rim of it was red. I admit, the outfit wasn't too bad looking, but the blouse that tightly hugs me, and the short skirt showing a little more than I really wanted pissed me off a bit. I dashed out of the bathroom to see the giggling pair of evil-doers.

"Hey Chelsea! You look pretty good in that! Matches your personality I know that." Akari giggled. My head was filled with popped veins, hoping that I get a chance to beat them up to heaven.

"Hey don't forget the finishing touches!" exclaimed Julia. I sent a glare at her, but was unfazed by it. In Julia's hands was a pair of black boots with laces, red earrings, and a red necklace.

"Hey Chelsea, we just want you to look your best at the festival. Besides, you look pretty good in those clothes." Sabrina persuaded. I gave out a defeated sigh, when it comes to these kinds of things with Sabrina; I can't compel myself to say "no" to her.

I gave a small smile and turned to Julia. I took the boots from her and started to unknot the laces tied trough the boot's holes. After most of the laces were free, I started slipping in my foot inside the boot. Once the boot was all the way on, I started tying the boot's laces up. Then I repeated the steps for my other foot. I then stood up, and realized that these boots were _high heels_. _**Knee-length, high heeled, boots**_. My face turned slightly blue at thinking that I have to walk in these things for a few hours, though, I thought they looked nice, the boots were just under my kneecaps and many inches below my skirt... I'm still confused as to why the skirt is practically right above my thighs...

Julia and Akari walked over to me to get the jewelry on. The earrings were very nice; they had a ruby stone in the middle of the silver outline. Akari helped me put them on as Julia hooked up the beautiful necklace around my neck. The necklace was a long, silver chain with a ruby down in the middle, it was magnificent.

The devils gave smiles and the thumbs up to me once the outfit was complete. I then took a good look at them. They wore different clothes as well. Their clothes were the latest style that came out, or so I heard from Akari. Julia was wearing the new Chic outfit, Akari was wearing the Pop outfit, and lastly, Sabrina had on the Black Victorian. My eyes narrowed as to why their clothes seem to be comfortable, but mine was very tight. I then felt a small tug on my hands. I looked up to see Akari pulling me out the door, Julia and Sabrina a little ahead of us.

"Come on! If we don't hurry, we'll be late!" exclaimed Akari. I gave out a sigh and started running with my cousin, but was having a very herd time doing so with the heeled boots.

* * *

As we ran down the around the large island to the Celesta Church Grounds, at the entrance was a large white billboard that says "Flower Festival". Once we descended to the festival entrance, Akari let go of my hand and ran ahead of me with Julia and Sabrina, leaving me behind.

"What, dress me up in this poor excuse of an outfit and leave me here after ten seconds?" I mumbled with a few veins appearing on my head. While I was busy talking to myself, someone patted me on my shoulder. I was caught by surprise and quickly whipped around to see who it was. The character jumped back in surprise and landed on his back side, the town light's shining on him.

"Chase?" I questioned. The violet eyed man looked up and gave a nervous chuckle.

"Ah hah…" said Chase. I walked over to him and offered a hand. He took it and raised himself upwards until he was standing again.

"You okay? You caught me by surprise so…" I started rambling while Chase dusted off his jeans. I examined Chase as he was dressed up for the festival as well. Chase was wearing the formal jacket look. He had on a plain red T-shirt with a brown jacket over it. Chase then finished dusting his moss green jeans, and as I look over to his feet, instead of his usual sandals, chase was wearing a pair of leather brown dress shoes. Now that I finished examining over him, I started questioning myself as to why my outfit seems to be over-the-top. In fact, I was the only one who really stood out in the festival mostly because that I was wearing Goth-like clothes.

"Y-Yeah, sorry for s-scaring you…" Chase started stuttering his sentence, now that I think about it; even though he can be mean at times, he's much more welcoming than Vaughn. I gave out a small smile, grabbed his hand, and started pulling him to one of the Cherry blossom trees. Once we got to one of the trees, Chase's face became really red, but I was too busy looking at the blossoms to even think about it.

* * *

The festival was really fun, and after a little while, Chase started to really get into this festival as well. Chase would start pointing towards some blossoms that are really large, and pick up a bunch of blossoms that were on the ground and toss them in the air. I never felt such delight in my life; Chase was like a bright sun, just like Mark. It made me happy that I could enjoy the blossoms with a man so much like my brother, yeah; Chase was just like another brother who somehow cheers me up when I'm down.

In my painful heels, I started running towards the farthest tree, but all of the sudden, I felt a small *clack* and I fell towards my side. I landed on the ground with a *thud* and felt tense pain in my right foot. I took a look at my right foot and saw that the heel for the boot was gone. I looked around for the heel and found it a few inches away from me. I reached for the heel and my face went blank at it. I then became slightly pissed at the situation. Before I gave a fit at the devils for making me wear heels, Chase quickly came by to see if I was doing alright.

"Hey, Chelsea! You alright, did you hurt yourself or anything?" Chase asked with detectable concern in his voice. My frustrated face quickly became an embarrassed one once I understood the situation.

"Y-Yeah just broke a heel, that's all." I answered. Chase gave out a hand for me and I took it with a small smile of thanks plastered on my face.

Chase helped me hop to the closest bench we could find, which was a quite a ways off and kinda isolated from the main area of the festival. I sat down with a limp since I felt a little off balanced without the other heel, and finally relaxed on the oddly comfortable bench. I looked up at the star-filled sky and closed my eyes for just a second. I gave out a content sigh as I felt the cool breeze over me and a light rustling sound coming from the trees. I opened my eyes again to see a cherry blossom tree over me, the pedals flowing off and falling on my face. My attention was then turned onto Chase when he started speaking.

"You know, this was really fun. I'm not the kind of person who really enjoys these kinds of festivals, but with you, they seem to be very pleasant." Chase admitted. I looked over to him and he held a flustered smile with a light blush. I gave a larger smile, usually rare to see.

"Yeah. I had a fun time too. With someone like you, I feel really at home." I gave out a really bright smile, wide, and full of happiness. Chase's face darkened, and it felt like heat was emitting off his face. It was true though, ever since I lost my parents and moved to the island, I never gave a large smile to anyone, in fact, I usually never smile at all. Only to my friends, they are the only people who see my smiles, usually small tough. Now, this person before was the first in a long time who made me smile with pure happiness.

My train of thought ceased once I felt a light touch on my chin. My smile completely disappeared and a look of confusion filled my face. Chase's fingers were on my chin, now tilting my face slightly upwards. My head was pulled forward a bit and felt an arm around my neck. I felt another face nearing mine, and again it was Chase. I felt something on my lips, firm, awkward, but warm. My eyes started to widen from this situation. Chase was kissing me! My eyes gone wider at his sudden movement, but Chase's eyes were closed and was currently unable to see my reaction. I was then overtaken by something. Fear? Anger? Instinct?

I didn't mind what it was; all I wanted was this to stop. I placed my hands on Chase's chest and quickly pushed him backwards. Chase gave out a surprised gasp and fell backward towards the ground, and then he looked up at me in confusion. My eyes were so wide that my pupils were smaller than my whites, just thinking at the size of them were terrifying.

My right hand immediately popped up to my lips, a tingling sensation still on them. The leathery gloves brushed over my lips, and I suddenly jumped off of the bench. My right hand completely covered my lips and more, soon my other hand went up copying the movement of my right one. I stared at Chase with terror in my eyes, it was too familiar, and it was too much. I took a step back. Then a voice was heard from the man on the ground, looking at me with a mix of confusion and surprise.

"Chelsea… D-Did I do something wrong?" whispered chase, scared that if he spoke any louder that he'll scare me off. I took another step back, and repeated the last movement.

Chase finally got off the ground and reached with his right hand trying to reach me, but knows that he can't.

"H-Hey, if it's something I did, I-I'm sorry…" assured Chase, but I ignored his every word, the same look still on my face.

I then took a few more steps away, moving with an up and down like motion due to the loss of my heel. I felt a slight sting in my eyes and something warm fell from the corner of my right eye, now making a stream of water fall from my face to the ground. Chase started to take a few slow steps toward me, his right arm still extended to reach me, but with a start I turned and ran off to anywhere but there.

I ran trough the woods, dodging the trees that came in my way and ended up in the falls where I almost drowned in. I made my way to the ledge to relax, but then I felt a familiar crack at my boots and feel forwards with another *thud*. I looked over at my boots and saw that another heel broke off yet again, making the heeled boots into flats.

I clenched my teeth in complete frustration at myself, the way I treated Chase, who was nothing like _him_, but became scared of him when I came right down to it. Just thinking back at this, I started to gag in disgust and ripped off my tight gloves and started wiping my mouth in desperation. My face felt really hot, and my eyes felt bloated with heavy amounts of water. From complete fear, large orbs of water fell from my eyes and fell to the grassy land; I then collapsed and gave small hiccups, trying to hide my sounds of weakness as a person.

While I was busy trying to keep my sounds down to minimum, some rustling of footsteps were coming up behind me. I looked up with large tears still falling from my eyes, and saw Vaughn. I thought my vision was just being blurry and rubbed the tears off, but as I took another look, I was sure of it, the person in front of me was definitely Vaughn.

* * *

Sorry that I have to leave it like this, but I hope you enjoyed the chapter! Wonder what's going to happen since Vaughn saw Chelsea? Stay tuned to find out! ^w^ And I'm very sorry to those people who finds any of the characters OOC. I fail for that...


	22. Chapter 21 Misunderstanding part one

Sorry that I wasn't doing very much updates, after I move in I'll be sure to get more chapters in. I hope you like the story so far~

Disclaimer: I own nothing but this story. All Harvest moon characters belong to their rightful owners in Natsume Productions.

Enjoy~

* * *

Chapter 21: Misunderstanding part one

* * *

Vaughn's pov-(BTW: This happened before seeing Chelsea at the falls, just so you know)

I slammed the drawer angrily after I placed some files in their correct spots. I've been working for the past few hours, still kinda pissed at Chelsea who probably had no idea what the Flower Festival really is, and went out with that guy. I decided to work at the Town Hall to pass time and get my mind off of her, but apparently she even affected my work as all of my movements were harsh and hasty, most ending with a large *smack* or *thud*.

The lady at the counter, who's name was Elli, kept staring at me with concern, I didn't know why; I could care less if she's worried I'll break something. My working process ceased when Elli started to speak with a soft and nervous voice.

"Ummm… Vaughn… shouldn't you be a little more careful? A-Also, I'm glad that you decided to stay here and work when Gill's out at the festival, but the festival is almost over and you've been working for three hours straight, you really should go out and enjoy the last hour of it… We're closing soon too…" Elli held a shaky voice, frightened of the large man in front of her giving off a dark aura.

I raised an eyebrow, slightly surprise that so much time passed. I looked up to the wall clock and noticed that she was right.

_10:03pm_

There is about an hour left of the festival, and about this time the Hall should be closing, not like it was open today to begin with. I gave out a sigh and turned to Elli who gave a small jump to me turning to her suddenly.

"Mind as well. I'll be going then…" I hesitantly turned around and started my way to the door. Elli gave a faint response saying that she'll give me the money for today at the mailbox tomorrow morning. I nodded and closed the door once I exited out.

* * *

Once I exited the unusually cold Hall, I felt the mix of warm air with a cool mist hit my face. I then felt something stick on top of my shirt; my hand instantly moved to the spot and felt something soft and silky. I picked it off of my shirt and the colors of a light pink and white were mixed in the object, a Cherry Blossom. The flower quickly flew from my hand and danced around in the breeze. I gave out a small sigh and tilted my hat down a bit. I looked over at the main part of town and saw a bunch of people in pairs, mostly just enjoying the scenery. I neared just a bit, checking if Chelsea was there, but oddly enough, she wasn't. My eyes widened slightly in curiosity, and went further up town to see if she went to a more isolated place, and there, was only the guy who asked Chelsea out, Chase. I slowly neared him and saw that he was sitting on a bench, having a confused look on his face. I looked at his surroundings, but apparently, the girl who he asked out was not there.

_Vaughn, what are you doing? Stop sneaking around like a stalker and just leave; it's none of your business anyways!_

I quickly agreed with my inner self and slowly moved away, knowing that it was not my place to interfere, that's the devils' job. I decided to just go to the Falls and relax there, nobody will be there because they're busy with the flowers. As I neared the Falls, I heard a muffled voice that sounds like crying. I followed the sound and saw a small figure on the ground. My eyes widened when I saw a familiar color of chestnut.

_Chelsea?_

I thought as I moved closer to the shivering figure, making rustling sounds in the process. That made the figure turn around, and I then locked eyes with a pair of sapphire orbs that glistened from tears.

* * *

Chelsea pov-(back to the part where I left you on… :P)

_Vaughn?_

I looked up to meet a pair of violet eyes and it stayed that way for a few seconds. The night was silent; the only sounds were rustling sounds from the breeze brushing up the trees and my small hiccups as the aftermath from crying so much. Now seeing the situation, I whipped around and started wiping the tears off my face, but they somehow won't stop. My wiping motions soon became frantic, now furiously trying to get the droplets off of my face.

"Umm… V-Vaughn, this isn't w-what it looks like, n-nothing happened, a-ah hah…" I unsteadily spoke these words; a shaking crack came up from the large amount I cried. I then heard Vaughn give out a sigh and heard rustling sounds nearing me and stopped right by me in a large *crunch*. I shyly looked up, hoping that all of my tears were gone.

"What happened?" My face went blank for a second to take in what he just asked me. Once I absorbed his words, my face brightened a bit.

'_H-He cares… He actually cares…'_ both of my sides gave into a surprised blush; I copied their reaction as well, though, not as bright as theirs.

Knowing that he asked, I couldn't help but feel happy. I then did something that was completely out-of-character for me, I actually told him what happened, I didn't understand, but I wanted someone to know. I only told him that I ran away after Chase kissed me, and I cried my eyes out at the falls, but I didn't think up of an idea to tell him why I ran away, but to my luck, Vaughn guessed why, and of course, I went along with it. There was absolutely no way that I'll tell him the reason why I hated all men anyways, nope, not gonna happen!

"I see… Then the reason you ran away was because it was your first kiss, and you didn't know what the Flower Festival really was? I should've seen this coming…" Vaughn sighed.

I then started to tear up again, not knowing why I ran away and how I was going to explain this to Chase. As soon as tears started to fall from my face, I felt something on my cheeks and felt it pull outwards, now stretching my face into an uncomfortable position. I let out yelps of pain and looked up to see Vaughn pinching my cheeks outwards with a frustrated scorn on his face.

"Get over it, it happened and you can't do anything about that, but you can do something now and fix it then, got it?" scolded Vaughn.

My eyes widened at him, seeing as he just gave me some advice. I soon felt the grip on my cheeks disappear and my hands instinctively went up to rub the pain off them. I felt the corners of my mouth curve upwards a bit, and a small smile started to grow into a large one. I gave Vaughn that smile to say thanks, and from staring at his face, he gave a small, yet noticeable blush. After a while, he returned with a small smile, tilting his hat in the process.

"Let's go back now" I stated, now my mood felt so much higher than usual. I started to make my way down to the town, but quickly tripped afterwards. I fell down, face planted on the ground, pain making its contact as well. Yeah… I completely forgot about the broken boots.

"You okay?" Vaughn came down and offered a hand; I took it with a thankful smile, and with the smile still plastered on a vein appeared on my forehead as I hastily removed these cursed boots. I then felt his eyes examine over me, and his face gave way into a confused one.

"Is there a reason why you're dressed Goth anyways? I know that this is a festival, but isn't that going a bit overboard?" Vaughn questioned. I kept silent and gave way to a nervous laugh.

"Heh… Long story…" I laughed out awkwardly.

Throughout the night, I really had to explain what happened when I was wearing these clothes, and the reason why I was currently walking in barefoot as the boot's heels were broken.

Once I returned back at Akari's house, I thankfully removed everything and changed into shorts and a T-shirt. I landed on my bed and wondered how I'll be able to explain everything to Chase, yet put it off till tomorrow, my day was stressful, and I do not plan to think anytime soon, at least till the morning…

* * *

Sorry if this one's short, but I've been busy these days, heh... oops. I promise that the next ones will be a bit longer. Well, stay tuned for the next chapter if you will~ ^_^


	23. Chapter 22 Misunderstanding part two

OH GOD, IT'S BEEN LIKE FOREVER! I'm sorry that I didn't update for so long! I've been on writers block so I had a few difficulties on this chapter. I'll really try to get some more updates in when I really can, but don't expect very much since I'm now stuck on school as it came back up! TT^TT

BTW- Chase may be a bit OOC, sorry! Please don't hurt me! TT^TT"

Disclaimer: I own nothing but this story. All Harvest Moon Characters belong to their rightful owners in Natsume Productions. Now that's out of the way, let's continue on to the story.

Enjoy~

* * *

Chapter 22: Misunderstanding part two

* * *

Chelsea's POV-

I woke up from a force of someone shaking my whole body in order to wake me up, but as my last night was not the best one I ever had, I was completely in no mood for this. I waved off to whoever was there to signal them to go away, but soon the same shaking motion attacked my body, a little rougher than the last one. I gave an angry groan and flipped the sheets over my head, hoping that this person would just get the hint and leave me alone.

After a few seconds, I finally thought that I was now alone, but as soon as the thought flowed through my head, I felt a sudden sharp pull from the sheets under me and my body was following the direction to where the force was. I then met contact with the hard wooden ground when I went over the edge of the bed. I quickly sat up to meet whoever was in front of me and was about ready yell until I met a pair of eyes that seemed to be angrier than I was. I paused in confusion when the pair of eyes that were piercing right through me belonged to my cousin, Akari.

"A-Akari. W-What is-" I was cut off by a snap from Akari.

"What happened?" I winced from the raw anger that rose from her voice.

"W-What do you m-mean?" I nervously mumbled. A huff came out of Akari and an upset pout replaced her furious face.

"What I mean is what happened last night. You and Chase were getting along so well, yet all he does is plant one on you and you run away crying? Don't you think that you were over reacting? I know the past was a little rough for you, but it's been seven years, now eight, don't you think all that should be behind you now?" Akari's eyes showed concern, trying to comfort me a bit, but I looked the other way, avoiding her gaze. Again, I was in no mood for this and I really didn't want to remember what happened last night, more so because I didn't think up of an idea to fix the problem.

"That's none of your business, it's mine. I'll fix this myself and I don't need you giving me a lecture about 'letting go'." I asserted, turning my face back to hers with a determined look.

A light sigh escaped Akari's lips, but despite the sigh, a small smile washed away her negative expression.

"I see. Alright then, but I'll only give you today to fix it. Chase is probably still confused about it and it'll be bad if he gets distracted during cooking, got it?" I gave a smile at that sentence, glad that Akari trusts me that I can solve this problem by myself.

"Well, I got to go. I got a farm to take care of." Akari turned around and left the house, leaving me by myself to think about how I'll be able to explain this to Chase.

* * *

After changing into my usual attire, I thought over on how to make this work. I know that Chase is probably angry, if not, very upset, I mean, who wouldn't be when your own date reacted to something that really wasn't a big deal. I scratched my head in confusion as I ran through the fresh thoughts in my head.

"_hmmmm… Let's see… Plan 1: Beat around the bush and let him get the hint… no, Chase probably won't stick around that long to get it… _

_Or Plan 2: Get someone else to apologize for me?… No, I already told Akari that I'll solve this by myself… _

_Plan 3? Hmmm… Tell him about my past? … WHAT? NO FRIKKIN' WAY! WHAT AM I THINKING? UGGHH. I just mind as well be blunt with it!"_

In my thinking session, I decided to move on to the Inn, but my thoughts stopped short when I already made it there. Before I knew it, I was already inside of the Inn, and met with an odd atmosphere that seemed to make the room a bit darker. I walked up to the service counter where Maya was, but she looked like she was kind of creeped out by the emptiness of the atmosphere. Seeing as she was unusually gloomy, I decided to try to start a conversation with her.

"U-ummm…. Maya? Maya? Something wrong?" I questioned, only to be answered with a nervous lift of the hand with a point to the kitchen. As of seeing the source of the atmosphere, I knew where this was going and I didn't like it one bit… Nevertheless, I moved over to the kitchen, seeing if I can somehow fix this problem.

As I entered the eerie kitchen, I saw a familiar peach haired character, but I as I neared the character, he gave no notice of me. I tried to get closer to him, but failed as I really couldn't do it, I mean, I'm very sorry about last night, but I've still haven't planned out on how to put my apology to words… At least, until my mind exploded and said, "TO HELL WITH IT! I'M JUST GOING TO BE BLUNT!" I moved into his range of seeing to begin my blunt break up and apology.

"Chase!" I shouted to get his attention, which work and failed the same time, because all of the sudden, he started getting up and exiting the Inn. I gave a surprised gasp at him leaving the Inn like he's avoiding me or something. Now that I think about it, He is avoiding me! Just at the thought of it and at the same moment when I decided to apologize to him made me boil over. I huffed out a frustrated sigh and marched out of the Inn to follow that troublesome person.

Once I left the Inn, I saw Chase making his way up to Akari's farm, and I followed, my head fuming in the process. Chase soon disappeared to the Farm, me following not so far behind. I entered the farm, getting ready to scream at the top of my lungs to get Chase's attention, until I saw him already in a conversation with Akari. I neared a little bit, to listen onto the conversation, though feeling a little guilty in the process, it really is not my place to listen, that's mostly the Devils' job.

The two sat on the edge of the stairs that goes up to Akari's house and started their conversation there. I hid in the other side of the house, well out of their view, but still in clear sight for me. Some mild talking sounded in the silent air, and I started to stretch my ear outwards to hear what they were saying. Chase started the conversation.

"Thanks Akari, you know, for helping and all that stuff."

"No problem!"

"Well, since you already know about what happened, do you have advice on how I can fix it?" asked Chase.

My eyes slightly widened from the statement that came out of Chase's mouth.

"Nope." A blunt remark came from Akari.

I nearly tripped down to the ground from the unsuspected reply, and from the look of Chase, he nearly faltered as well.

"W-What? B-But I-" Chase started but was quickly cut off by Akari.

"Chelsea is doing the same thing so I give you no advice, just wait and she'll apologize." Another blunt remark escaped Akari's lips. Akari soon started to stand up and retreat to her house, but was stopped by Chase who grabbed her hand.

"But Akari! I want to fix this too! If I can't, at least tell me why Chelsea reacted like she did last night." Chase begged with a determined stare.

I admit, I was very surprised by his determination, but all in the same, I feel like I'm watching a drama movie, not that I'm a big fan of those anyways. I was soon caught off guard by an amused giggle from my cousin.

"Phhfff…. C-Chase, do you know how much you look and sound like Chelsea?" giggled Akari. Chase's head gain a small popped vein from that statement, in which bought another laugh from Akari.

"Hah. There's the Chase I know and love." Akari moved her way down to the edge of the stairs again and shared a smile with him, but was soon replaced with a depressed one. Oh no, I know where she's going with this! She had better not!

"You see, Chelsea didn't have the best life ever known, in fact, it was a very tough one. I really won't go in depth with her past, mostly because she'll kill me if she finds out, so keep the information you know to yourself if you could?" Akari asked. Chase only answered with a nod, and with me deciding on two sides.

Either I go out and blow my cover to stop them, but get in a lot of trouble afterwards, or I just stay and watch Chase learn about my past and both of us getting an understanding. I really want to stop them, but I know there are probably more benefits if he learns about it. Apparently my decision was the latter, seeing as I had no choice now that Akari is already starting the story.

"You see, Chelsea's life was harsh, it was full of betrayal and death, and seeing as usually males were the people who degrade her, she started to grow a strong hate for them. In fact, the only guy she's ever held a conversation with was her brother, Mark. The guy we saw just a few days ago, remember him?" Chase gave a nod. "Yes, well back to the story, Chelsea started to hate almost every male she saw, but I was really glad that she grew such a close bond with another male, you. That is until you planted one on her, but don't worry, she's not too troubled about it now. Yet, it surprises me, Chelsea almost lost her life at the Caramel Falls incident, yet she's so nonchalant about it." Akari paused and started to tear up. Chase then gave a small sigh, knowing that he'll have to deal with this.

"What's wrong?" Chase asked half-heartedly.

"N-Nothing, j-just that l-looking back on it, Chelsea's life h-has been really hard on h-her, but she can still b-be happy with others. I guess I still feel kind of bad for h-her, you k-know? In fact, all in the same, I envy her too. D-Despite her short temper and harsh words, she can still be happy with others." mumbled Akari.

"S-So, if you could, c-can you forgive Chelsea? N-Now that you s-somewhat understand her past and stuff?" Akari started crying.

Akari's tears soon became larger as her pity and envy for me grew. Chase then seemed nervous and uncertain on what to do, and reacted by pulling Akari in a tight hug. Now seeing in how this scene was going, I started lowering my eyes. Akari gave a surprised gasp, but did not resist Chase's act of comfort. All I did at the time was staring at Chase's face that was hidden under his bangs.

"C-Chase?" Akari whispered in a soft voice.

"I'm sorry. I should've known, and I'm sorry that you're suffering too." Chase stated. He then raised his head up, the features of his face was twisted in regret. A smile from Akari was shared with him, and the comfort Chase gave to her was answered back by returning it. Now in front of me was my cousin and Chase hugged together for comfort.

"Thank you. Thank you for letting me know about this, and I promise to not try that ever again." Chase said in a soft voice. Akari only answered with a glad smile and the two separated after a set amount of time.

The set finally left the scene satisfied with what just happened, in which leaves me by myself. For the whole time my eyes were lowered in reaction to the tears that Akari shed. I should've known earlier, Akari was suffering from my past as well, and now reacting like I did last night just caused more stress and disturbance to her. I regretted everything, I should be the one who's apologizing, and I should be the one to solve the problems that are involved in my past, I… I… I should be the one saying 'I'm sorry for being alive' and I am, because pain is inflicted on those who are better off without me.

My face started to change into regret, because I knew that this was my entire fault that the ones close to me were getting hurt. It's just like those guys said back then. 'Everyone is better off without you. You should never have been born into this world.' I clutched my face with my left hand, wishing that my nails will just claw into it, kill me, and be rid of the "sin" of this world, that is, until Akari appeared in front of me. My eyes widened and I quickly let go of my face. Thankfully, Akari's expression shows that she didn't know anything of me listening on their conversation or of my attempt of death.

"There you are! I've been looking all over for you Chelsea! Chase is looking for you and he said that it's going to be a double apology." Akari grinned. A small beat of sweat threatened to travel down my face as it was one in stress of the situation. I only answered with a small nod, hoping that Akari doesn't notice my discomfort.

"R-Right, I'll be there…" I exclaimed half-heartedly. Apparently, Akari was too caught up in her own happiness that she just gave a large smile in content.

"Great! Chase is back at the Inn, now get along, you hear?" Akari lightly pushed me to the exit of her ranch. I turned back and tried to return the smile, but failed horribly, only to turn back once I saw her. In the end, I only returned the acknowledgement with the raise of a hand to signal my farewell.

* * *

I quickly arrived at the Inn and speed-walked my way in. When I entered the Inn, the atmosphere was much brighter than before, and there were actual customers in here too. I looked over a few steps away from me and saw Chase talking to another person at the bar. I stared at Chase in wonder; his personality was dead a couple minutes ago, and after a conversation with Akari, he looks so alive. I was slightly surprised that his mood changed so suddenly, but was glad all the same that my cousin was the one who was able to solve this problem. I quietly closed in on Chase, hoping that my apology will come out correctly, but it seems that I didn't had any time at all seeing as he noticed me right away.

"Chelsea!" called Chase.

Beads of sweat immediately started to fall as of still being unsure as to start apologizing. Nevertheless, I walked up and Chase's hands signaled that he wants to see me in the kitchen. I followed.

Once I situated myself into the kitchen, I opened my mouth to start speaking, but Chase beaten me to it.

"Hey, umm... Chelsea, I wanted to apologize about last night. I guess I should've understood your feelings first before I started anything, you know?" Chase began.

"Akari already told me that this was all a misunderstanding, so we're alright, right?" questioned Chase.

I gave no answer but a nod, but tried a small smile, and thankful that the smile actual made it to my face. Chase returned it with a thankful smile, glad that we have an understanding, but as I stared into his eyes, he seems to be very lonely, despite his 'hardy' like personality, I knew that I had to do something to fix it; it was my all my fault that this happened anyways. I knew that what I was going to say next maybe a gamble, but I had nothing to lose.

"H-Hey, Chase?" I murmured. Chase answered with a grunt, I continued.

"From now on, can you take care of Akari for me? She may be older than me, and seems to be lively on the outside, but she has a lot on her shoulders, so if it's not too much to ask, can you be with her?" I asked, wishing that there was hope. I knew that the two belong together, they held such comfort with each other, and I just know that I'm making the right choice.

"Uh, sure, I guess…" Chase mumbled. I looked up from my position, surprised of the answer he gave.

"That's not a problem; I do owe you for what happened anyways." Another grumble from Chase answered my plea. I thanked him, I was glad that he will help Akari, and I just had a feeling, something that'll tell me that those two belong together.

The burden that I felt before was now off my chest, but there was this one feeling that I couldn't shake off. This feeling, a premonition, like something fatal will happen, but I guess I'm starting to get a bit too paranoid.

…

Still though, what is this odd feeling?

* * *

I AM SO SORRY FOR THE LATE UPDATE. nuff' said. I truly do hope that you'll stay tuned for the next chapter!


End file.
